Dr. L. Frank Brown, a Teacher for the Ages

A while back I wrote something about crossroads that we all encounter in our lives--certain events whose significance at the time we often are unawares. There are events, however, whose significance is well realized at the time. Events which shake us and leave us changed.

I had a teacher once whose words spoken with a quiet intensity changed my life forever. It was on a limestone hillside in Texas many years ago. It was spring and the Bluebonnets and Indian Blankets covered the land in the warm sunshine, and the song of Meadowlarks filled the air. Students in my Historical Geology class were every where over the hillside, but I only had eyes and ears for Dr. L. Frank Brown who was my teacher.
I had just caught a young snake whose identify I didn’t know, and I was a bit disappointed that Dr. Brown, a geologist, said he didn’t know what kind of snake it was when I asked him. The snake must have been a guide, leading me to my teacher, for Dr. Brown motioned to me and another student as he knelt down and picked up the fossil of a clam from the limestone outcrop that we stood upon.

“Look at this!” he said, holding the fossil out in his hand, his voice intense and directed right at me. “This area is filled with these broken clam shells. Look…you can see where the shell was broken after death, and you can see that the broken edges of the shell are smooth and worn. These shells of these clams were washed back and forth by wave action to form this ripple mark made of clam shells which was on the floor of a shallow Cretaceous sea. If you could find an adjoining ripple bed, you could calculate the depth of water that these shells were in by the distance between the ripple marks. These clams were probably just offshore, their shells worn smooth by the wave action. Listen! Smell! Can’t you just hear that ancient sea and smell the tidal flats these clams lived in?”

And so, in an instant was my life changed forever. That moment was inscribed on my being never to be erased. I can remember it exactly. The sun warm on my neck and bare arms, the snake wriggling in my hands totally forgotten, the buzz of grasshoppers, the smell of that good Texas country…engraved forever along with those simple intense words spoken with a fervor that spoke excitedly of momentous secrets being revealed.
I simply felt doors swing open in my mind and through them I had a far off glimpse of lands never before dreamed of. The idea that from a few simple observations the ecology of a land gone to dust over sixty five million years ago could be deduced was something absolutely inconceivable to me. And it was far more than that…it was an introduction into a way of looking at things that I had never experienced.

I finished the course with an “A,” and received in the mail a copy of Loren Eisley’s The Immense Journey with an inscription on the front page by Dr. Brown congratulating me on my achievement of making the highest grade in the class. In the future I took additional courses from Dr. L. Frank Brown—two semesters of Invertebrate Paleontology and a course in Sedimentology/Stratigraphy. All of these courses involved weekly field trips with some of them extending all week end. The Stratigraphy course also involved one on one trips with Dr. Brown who dedicated all his weekends during that semester to his students. I often wondered how his wife tolerated his being gone constantly.
In all of these courses, Dr. Brown taught with an intensity and enthusiasm which captured and riveted the attention of his students. His dedication and single-minded pursuit of teaching excellence has remained with me all my life. It was quite simply impossible to be around him without catching the fire that he gave off—a fire that made one want to know more about the secrets of the universe that he imparted with such ease and facility.
When he had to leave our school at the end of my senior year, all the students were devastated and appalled. He burned so brightly that he showed most of the other faculty in the Baylor Geology department to be dim and dusty cinders. He had to move on. This was my first glimpse of what envy on such a level could do to the best and brightest.

I never saw Dr. Brown again. However, because of his incredible influence I went on to finish my Bachelors, then my Masters and eventually my Doctorate. I have taught many hundreds of students since those days, and every day that I do so, I think of Dr. Brown and wonder just how he would explain a particularly difficult concept, or how he would try and enthuse students in the subject that he loved so much. What a role model he was!
And just before he left I had intended to write him and tell him how much he had influenced and changed my life, but…I never did, he left before I wrote the letter. And all these years I have regretted not writing that letter…until now. I recently to my astonishment found him online and wrote him at his email address repeating much of what I have just written. I can't begin to say how pleased I am to tell him how much he changed my life.
I don't think it would be an invasion of his privacy to provide this link to his profile. You can go here and see how he has progressed since he left the narrow strictures of Baylor University.

Sword Fern and Lilac

It's been rain mixed with sun today. The sword fern are sending forth new growth and their fiddle heads are in the process of uncurling.

Also the lilacs are at their height. I have two bushes, one on the front corner of the house and the other by the porch and driveway. I especially like the latter since it curls over the porch steps which gives me an opportunity for a wonderful sniff of lilac every time that I go by. Also, however, they act like sponges which dumps water on me if I brush against them after a rain!

Do You Have Passion?

I tried to ignore the tons of rock which seemed poised to drop onto me as I squeezed through the narrow crevice, covering myself with the wet clay of the cave. I had never known any symptoms of claustrophobia before I had entered this small cave in search of some elusive Collembola. It was mid-January in Northeastern Iowa and the snow was deep and the temperature was in the single digits outside the cave. Inside the cave it was cool and damp with puddles of water upon which one could find these new types of Springtails which so excited my guide. All I could see of him at the moment was his feet ahead of me as he scrambled unconcernedly through the narrow passages and crevices.

Finally we reached a wider place in the passage which contained a small pool of water. We were on our bellies with the ceiling pressing into our backs and my claustrophobia had increased.
"Here!" he shouted excitedly and took out a small brush and a vial of alcohol.
Looking closer in the weak yellow beam of his flashlight I could see extremely small hopping insects on the surface film of the water. This is what we were after--new species of Collembola, commonly called Springtails. Back in those simple days of 1974 these curious creatures were considered insects, but now with sophisticated means of genetic analysis, we are able to divide and subdivide, clump and unclump taxa based upon DNA esoterica which has provided taxonomic "splitters" with a dream tool. They now (for the moment) appear to be put into a class of their own along with other apparently unrelated Arthropods that have internal mouth parts (Entognatha).
As he gently caught the creatures on the tip of his camel hair brush and dipped them into their final bath of alcohol, I could see his hands shake, his breath puffing forth in dense clouds of vapor in the cool air. He was almost beside himself with excitement. He had found and described these creatures which through isolation and eons had differentiated into distinct species. Since this was in one of those "islands" which had not been covered by the lastest glaciation (Wisconsin), they may have been isolated longer than we realized. Even though he was just an undergraduate at nearby Luther College, he had already accomplished much. Caught up by his excitement, I forgot the pressure on my back, the chill and the wet and became absorbed in these tiny creatures that lived in the utter darkness of this cave.

Sometimes I think back on this young man with his incredible enthusiasm for a small insignificant group of animals. Most people had never heard of these creatures, and if they did, they probably would be amazed that anybody would pay any attention to them. However, in the dim chill of that wet cave, with the sense of imminent doom from the rock pressing on my back, I caught a part of his fire and felt myself becoming excited in turn. I carry a part of this fire still. And this is the lesson that I learned from him:

Life should be full of such enthusiasms. We should search out and cultivate these passions! We should open ourself to this incredible universe and catch something of the mysterious fire that lies at its root. I love and admire anybody with overpowering passion and enthusiasms which fill them with a holy fire which can illuminate and fill all those who come in contact with them. And it can be anything! Springtails or painting, music or archery...can you feel it?

Are You Really That Simple? 无为

A while back, I became interested in the idea of what it would mean to lead a simple life. I found this one religion/philosophy which seems to embrace this idea. Some of it's major tenets are:

1. The universe is comprised of a basic unity--a mysterious force which is unknowable and which is the origin of all things. It is impossible to know absolute good and evil.

2. Life is the greatest of all possessions. To attain the richest sort of life, a person must somehow attune himself to this unity.

3. Live in primitive simplicity and let all things take their natural course. We should place our will in harmony with the natural universe which works harmoniously in its own way. When we try to impose our will it disrupts that harmony.

4. Kindness, humility and sincerity should be cultivated.

5. The highest goodness is like water which seeks the lowest level drawing nearer to the unity of all things.

And how can such a life be lived today in the midst of all our modern wonders and the complexity of our civilization?

We are responsible for how we live our lives. Cultivate simplicity, get rid of unnecessary "things." Try to attune to nature and the changing seasons. Try to not be so judgmental. Accept and try to understand other people. Cultivate compassion and kindness. Encourage others to abandon their rampant consumerism. Development spontaneity in your life and try to look upon your life as a child does--full of awe and wonder.

Everything is Impossible!

I was just thinking about the varied circumstances that have led to me being right here, leading the life that I am leading. Everybody, I am sure has done this, thinking back to a particular event that seems to be a major turning point in one's life. If we had made a different decision at a critical juncture then our lives would have turned out totally different.

There are many small decisions that we make throughout the day that affect our lives, but there seem to be a few pivotal events I can think of which would have led to major changes in my life if I had made a slightly different decision. It is usually only with hindsight that we can spot these pivotal episodes. I am sure that there are many choices that we make throughout the day that have the potential to be one of these nexus points, but because of the choices that we make, we never realize that we have passed one of these probability points. Most choices lead to a continuation of our daily routine, but if we make slightly different decisions then major changes can occur.

I can remember one cold wintery night back in January, 1974 in Decorah, Iowa. I was enjoying a drowsy evening listening to classical music, reading and drinking tea, when there was a sudden knock at the door. I was somewhat irritated at being disturbed and I was loathe to get up and open the door to the frigid cold. I didn't realize it at the time, but this was one of those critical nexus points. If I had decided to ignore the knock, I would have gone on down the life path that I was on at that time, and I would never have realized that I had been brushed by the dark wings of change. However, I got up reluctantly, opened the door...and my life was sucked into a hurricane of change and turmoil which led me down a dark divergent path far from my loved ones and all that I had known before. I stand here where I am today because of that long ago decision.

This is just one fork in my life that I remember, but when I ponder this, I realize that my life was full of such episodes--arguably an infinite number of nexus possibilities. And not just my life, but the lives of those around me, the lives of my parents, the decisions that they made each moment of their lives which led to the present reality...and so on, the decisions of their parents, etc, etc. back to the beginning. When pondering this I realize that the probability of ANY event occurring is infinitesimal. NOTHING is really possible when the infinite probabilities are considered for any one event. And yet, of course, things do happen, improbable as these events are! The arrow does move!

My Little Garden

Well, I finished 95% of my chores--it was just a mite later than my goal. Today was a beautiful day here, and I planted two types of beans, in addition to lettuce, and turnips. I have three small garden plots on the side of my yard; each one is a raised bed in a sort of stair-step arrangement going down the slope. Each plot is about 6 x 12 feet and varies as to the amount of sunlight it gets. Sunlight is a premium in my yard since it is surrounded by Douglas Fir, Western Cedar, Red Alder and Pacific Madrone trees, in addition to a thick understory of Salal and Huckleberry found under the trees. The sun at these latitudes, as I have mentioned before, seems to always be low to the horizon and only in summer does it peek above the trees. I have laid boards down in the plots to demarcate the planting areas and to provide something to walk on so I won't tramp down the soil. One half of one little plot and three quarters of another one is overgrown with mint plants. I haven't the heart to pull it up since I love the smell so much and also love the taste in my tea. There are also volunteer chard and potato plants coming up which takes up another goodly percentage of the plots--not to mention Dandelions
We are at the height of the Spring blooming time, with tulips, rhodendrons and many other flowers and shrubs at their loveliest. The wild Huckleberry is putting out new growth and the tips of the new growth are an unsual orange which is striking against the green foliage. The Salmon Berry bushes are now beginning to set little green berries, but it will be a while before it ripens.

Musings

Beginnings

Until I spoke to you

I could only catch glimpses

Like flashes of light,

Sparkles of what was inside you.

And then

Opening yourself up to me

Giving of yourself

I entered into you

Getting to know all that was you.

It amazes me

All of that

Hidden

Within secret feminine folds

A human life, warm...breathing

Pulsing with life

And love and joy.

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

ENDINGS

Some endings stand out more than others.
Others are commonplace and fade from memory.
Some are known at the time,
Like the last time I talked to my mother
Or held my red haired love

Other endings come unawares
Sparing us the heartbreak
Of knowing too much.
It is only later that
We realize another
Ending has come and gone.

Like when I saw her stride
Purposely out of the terminal to board
The plane in that little
Iowa town.
Would I have run to her and held her close
One more time if I had known?

Or when I watched you wave goodbye
From the rear window of that departing car
How could I have known it was the last time
And that you were forever lost to me?

And the last time that I carried my daughter,
Or held her little hand as we walked along.
When I let go of her, what would I have done
If I had known...
It was the last time?

Chores, chores, chores--phooey!

I've been trying to do a lot of projects, and to help myself out I have made a detailed list that fills almost an entire page. I have listed the main items below that I want to accomplish by next Tuesday:
A. Set up a new computer and connect it to my home network.
B. Clean out the closet and either throw out any junk or take useful items to Goodwill.
C. Thoroughly clean my bedroom and computer room.
D. Put numerous photos into frames and hang them. This includes some really old copies of photos of my family.
E. Clean out the garage and organize the junk...I mean things of value!
F. Cut pathways through the backyard salal and huckleberry (bushes), rake and clean in general.
G. Cut the brush back on the margins of the clearing in which I live.
H. Take out all the old plants that I saved in the garage over the winter and put on the deck.
I. Plant some azalea and camellia bushes.
J. Pot some new plants into some new containers and window boxes.
K. Take out some rotting landscape timbers around the raised beds and replace with new.
L. Dig up and plant the garden.
M. Mow front and back yards and also the margins along the street; cut back the weeds along the driveway; clean driveway and deck.

Those are the main headings of what I want to do. Totally unrealistic I know, but if I can do all but "D" and "M." I shall be happy. Unfortunately I am working my days off this week, and so will be short of free time to do all this.

Seattle Pike Place Market

I traveled to Seattle yesterday on the bus ($3.00) and returned on the commuter train ($4.00). The trip on the train was new for me and is by far the preferred method. It travels down the Green River Valley through the countryside which is now bright green with new Spring leaves. I haven't been through some of these small towns in many years, and although I had heard of the train, I had never taken it. It was a delightful experience.

While in Seattle I walked down by the waterfront (windy and chilly and looking a bit run-down), and meandered my way through all the construction before climbing the hill to Pike Place mark. As usual the market is a place full of sights, sounds and smells that capture the senses. The tulips are reaching their height and the flower stalls were full of them.
I always like looking at the vegetable stands also. The vegetables and fruits are always carefully arranged so that they create a wonderful assemblage of color and texture. I am also always amazed at their price!

And of course I have to visit the fish stands with their incredible assortment of fish and other types of sea food. Sometimes the fishmongers put on a show by tossing the fish about for the benefit of the tourists, but today they were fairly quiet, not even shouting out their wares. In fact the place was relatively quiet and uncrowded. Relatively I say since it was still quite full of people and noise. It is a great place to browse and see the sights, and then to stop in some small eatery to eat lunch or breakfast. The entire area has been converted into a series of shops, stalls and restaurants of all types and descriptions. I was thinking how nice it would be, if money were no object, to live in a condo overlooking Puget Sound and the ferries, and then to come down to shop in the market and eat in the astounding number of restaurants. Maybe I should start buying lottery tickets? :)

It's a great place to walk also, going up and down the steep streets, wandering from one end of the downtown area to the other. The buses are free in the main city area, and you can get on and off whenever you wish. The driver always announces the last free stop, so you can leave before you have to pay!

It all sounds very wonderful, and it is--IF YOU LIKE DREARY, CHILLY, RAINY WEATHER! And that's the fly in the ointment of living in the Northwest. You can go for weeks without seeing the sun, and when you do it is a weak, watery thing, low on the horizon giving forth slanting rays that always makes me think that it is either early in the morning or late in the afternoon. The rain is legendary--not the hard pounding rain that one finds in the rest of the world, but drizzle, ranging from a fine mist to a steady rain that goes on and on and on... August and September are, however, wonderful with perfect warm, sunny weather and chilly nights. I suppose that it is a good thing for the area that it has such lousy weather, otherwise everybody and their dogs would flock here as they have to California. Actually the weather seems to have little impact on the burgeoning population which is rapidly filling the narrow corridor between the mountains and the sea, clear cutting the forests, polluting the water and the air, and in general befouling the pristine eden that once was here. But what else is new, huh?

PROHIBIT TALKING IN CARS IN WASHINGTON STATE

The enlightened state of Washington is about to pass a measure outlawing the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. As a local paper reported, the offense is punishable with a $101 fine, and would be a secondary traffic infraction which means that the driver would have to be pulled over for something else. I think this means that if a policeman observes a person driving down the road with a cell phone up to his ear, the officer would have to desperately look for another more serious infraction to legally pull the miscreant over. Perhaps the laudable officers of Fife, Washington could give the other police officers pointers since they are so skilled at pulling drivers over for trivial violations (See December post: Fife, the City that Sold it's Soul to the Devil).

As this paper says, this ban is long overdue. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that drivers quadruple their chances of being in an accident when they use their cell phones. The surprising thing shown by this study is that this accident rate holds whether the drivers HOLD their phones or use HANDS FREE DEVICES! The legislature decided to only address hand-held phones because police officers wouldn't be able to tell whether or not the person was using a hands-free phone.

I was filled with astonishment as I read this article! SURELY, the officers could be able in some way to detect that drivers were using a hands-free phone. I thought that perhaps they could use binoculars to see if a person's lips were moving IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY PASSENGERS! Then another thought occurred to me.

If the accident rate was the same for people talking on hands-free phones as it was for phones that they had to hold, then what exactly WAS the common factor that could be causing the increase in accidents? It couldn't be the fact that the drivers were only using one hand on the steering wheel while their other hand held the phone since the accident rate was the same for hands-free phones. After a short period of cogitation on this, I realized in a sudden flash of inspiration that it was the ACT OF TALKING! The act of talking was causing a fourfold increase in accidents. This leads me to urge our prescient legislature to extend this ban! PROHIBIT ALL TALKING IN CARS!