a Geographer's Place

According to the geologic era/epoch/period format, we live in the "Holocene"--the last 10,000 years or so. But for some years now, some academic folks have claimed human influence on the Earth has been dramatic. (Actually, they don't call it "human", since that would be sexist (it has "man" in it). They instead use the term "anthropogenic" ( human-created ). Anyway, because of the apparent extreme anthropogenic influence, some academics say we've moved out of the Holocene and into a new geologic epoch called the Anthropocene . They cite evidence that since the industrial revolution (that's usually the start-time), human--I mean anthropogenic --influence has really been the key factor shaping Earth. Good argument, sure. Good evidence, yes. I've heard and read good arguments on both sides. But still, the term has a difficult time catching on in Science. Maybe we don't want to admit the influence we've had...Maybe we're

I come from a family of basketball and softball players. My mother was an avid softball player--she could play any position very well. She got offered a position on the American Girls Baseball League, but had to turn it down to help raise her siblings and run the farm. But I remember her teaching me the fundamentals. Apparently my dad was a great basketball player in his youth, and I've heard stories about how good he was from his friends. He played hard. I'm talking like Jerry Sloan hard: tough screens, elbows out, strong drives. And he played the same even into his late 60s. My first real basketball education came while living in Mexico with Cameron and playing on a city league-ish team. I had just turned 15 years old and didn't know how to "box out" or "crash boards". I came back from Mexico with good skills in each (thanks, Cameron). Once at Weber State, Cameron and I played many a pick-up game, where I gained even more pointers and refined my skills

It started with a short trip to do fieldwork in NYC with a grad student who studies "New Media". (This is why I enjoy Geography: it allows me to study just about anything). And what's NYC without Broadway? To celebrate completing part of the fieldwork, we saw a few Broadway plays--one of which was Wishful Drinking , Carrie Fisher's one woman show based on her recent book (and life). Reviews for the show were very good, so we were expecting a good time. We also heard she was interactive with the audience...It was, I must say, an excellent, interesting, silly, and bawdy performance. I am now vehemently and ardently a Carrie Fisher fan--and not just because of how good a time we had, but because of her as a person.  For those who don't know, Carrie Fisher = Princess Leia in Star Wars  so, amongst talking about other interesting times in her life, she also spent time discussing her Star Wars past--how she unknowingly made a commitment to stay in her 23-year-old physi