Month: May 2017

Consider the lowly zipper. How you ever considered how they work, I mean really looked at one up close? Zipper People, and you know who you are, are a tad obsessive when it comes to closure.  Zippers are used on everything from clothing to luggage to camping gear. The current incarnation of the zipper has been around for nearly a century, supplanting the “button” as the designer’s choice to close men’s trousers and to avoid, as the marketing campaign of that time put it, “…the possibility of unintentional and embarrassing disarray….”. I can imagine buttons everywhere high-fiving one another over having been displaced from that particular function.

That said, the zipper is a pretty amazing invention. Lightweight, efficient, inexpensive – the way it pulls two sides together is nothing short of miraculous. Perhaps we humans can learn something there, as we have a proven track record of “disarray”.

We can remember the tragic figure of Quasimodo crying “Sanctuary!” from the castle keep. He is being pursued and seeks a safe place, a place where the power of society is momentarily held in abeyance. In this way “sanctuary” bestows a singular and individual strength, where one person can claim the right of freedom under a law older and larger than that which exists outside the wide walls. The historical sanctuary may gain its strength from faith or fantasy, but these days we call it another name.

We call it, Home.

Somewhere out there is a dusty old tome bound in heavy leather and strapped with gleaming copper clasps drawn from the great mines of Escondida, Chile. This book of ancient runes is said to harbor great secrets and may in fact hold the keys to the Seven Mysteries. For example, in this book under the definition of “comfort food” you will find “Shepard’s Pie”. How can such a simple blending of basic things be so good?  Surely there is magic at work here, and yes, I will stop calling you Shirley. True Shepard’s Pie uses ground lamb, but we could never afford it growing up, so our pie always used ground beef.

Behold The PIE!

 

I find the Big Island of Hawai’i to be the most interesting and beautiful of all the Hawaiian Islands. From black sand beaches to high deserts and the rainiest of rain forests, Hawai’i offers everything you can find on all the other islands combined. Oh, and did I mention volcanoes?  If you have a chance to visit Volcano National Park you can experience an active volcanic zone, with steam vents and lava tubes, alive, alive O!  It is your chance to feel small in the great world and I know we all want that. Please note that local legend forbids taking volcanic rock away from the islands, lest Madam Pele visit bad luck upon you until such rocks are returned to their rightful home.  Please mind your manners and respect the gods.

The island of Hawai’i has five volcanic peaks: extinct Kohala; dormant Mauna Kea; and the active volcanoes Hualalai, Mauna Loa and Kilauea. On Kilauea’s eastern flank there exists the Kilauea East Rift Zone which has been undergoing continuous eruptions since 1983. This extraordinary outpouring of lava has covered more than 47 square miles of existing land south of Kilauea, and produced over 500 acres of new land.

I have had a chance to bear witness to lava from Kilauea reaching the sea and exploding into a geyser of steam and sound, the cry of the Earth being born. The ancient geologic mechanisms are still at play here, deep in the dark and pressing heat, reminding us of our place in the realm of all things.

Twenty miles south of Hawai’i and 3000 feet below sea level is the slowly growing active volcanic seamount of Lo’ihi.  One day millennia from now Lo’ihi will emerge and become a new Hawaiian island to take its place among the archipelago. I wonder what nascent gods will roam that future land and what legends will arise, there upon the embryonic stone?