Landlocked Pirate

I was at Route 91. I lived through a mass shooting. I saw what happens when firearms end up in the hands of someone who should never have had them. But it wasn’t just that he had firearms—it was the amount and the type. Modified, high-powered, and designed for maximum harm. There should have been red flags. There were warning signs. And yet, nothing stopped it. Still, I understand and respect the Second Amendment. I’m not arguing to change it. I believe in responsible gun ownership, and I know that the right to bear arms is part of our nation’s foundation. What I don’t understand is how so many people who scream about defending the Second Amendment are so quick to ignore or trample the First. The First Amendment was first for a reason. It protects our freedom to speak, to write, to gather, to report, to question power, to worship—or not—to dissent without fear. It is the bedrock of every free society. Without it, there is no democracy—only obedience. So why are the loudest ...

Eagle Mountain, California — Our Home in the Desert.  I grew up in Eagle Mountain, California, a town carved into the desert by Kaiser Steel. It wasn’t just a place on a map — it was a purpose-built world. Kaiser owned the mine, Kaiser owned the houses and the market and the parks. When you lived in Eagle Mountain, your life was tied to the mine, just like everyone else's. Our high school opened its doors in 1962, and the first class graduated in 1963. My mom was just a year behind them, graduating in 1964. I graduated in 1982, walking across the quad under the open desert sky, surrounded by the familiar faces that had been part of my world since childhood. EMHS Band We were isolated out there, tucked against the barren hills of Southern California. There were no nearby cities to escape to, no outside world to drift into after school. We had each other — and only each other. Our dads all worked for the same company. Our moms ran the same errands and attended the same community eve...

 This is Zeke, he came to live with us on Halloween, 2009. We adopted him from a rescue group in Mesa AZ, and I was told the woman who fostered him couldn't keep him anymore and that he would be killed if he ended up back in the shelter, so he came home with us. He was two years old. We lived outside Phoenix and had the typical AZ backyard. One day I bought some sod and created a little strip of grass and Zeke was ecstatic. He rolled on it and played on it and didn't want to leave it. I felt so bad for not giving him grass earlier. He was a good dog, he wasn't a barker, until the first monsoon rolled in the next summer. What followed was years of sleepless nights each time a monsoon blew in. I dreaded them. We adopted Gary (the orange cat) two months after we got Zeke. Gary was a birthday gift for my youngest daughter. Pippin joined the family a year after Gary. As you can see, our cats are terrified of Zeke. We moved from Arizona to Reno, into a house with a big beautiful ...

If you are a Creationist and believe the Earth is only 6,000 years old, give or take, this is not meant for you. Your beliefs are founded in faith and I won’t argue with you. If you fall into this category and continue to read, keep your comments to yourself.  To everyone else, read on, if you wish. The Earth was formed 4.6 Billion years ago, plus or minus a few million years. 4.6 Billion years is pretty freaking old.  Until around 2,050,000,000 years (2.05 Billion Years, I just wrote it out like that to impress you with the number of zeros) ago, the Earth had an Oxygen deficient atmosphere. That means for much of the planet’s history, Oxygen dependent organisms couldn’t have existed. Over time, as life evolved and turned Carbon Dioxide into Oxygen, the atmosphere became oxygenic. Are you still with me? I think this stuff is interesting, it’s probably why I became a geologist. Another 1.5 Billion years goes by (give or take a few million) and voi...

Last year on October 2nd, I left Las Vegas in a daze. Our hotel was just around the corner from the concert venue and the Mandalay. I made a conscious effort to not look in that direction, I did not want to see that building and the broken windows of the shooter’s room. I was tired, there had been no sleeping that night. Every time I started to drift off, I heard gunshots, loud, like they were in the room and they jerked me awake. I took my time on the drive home. I love th e drive between Kingman and Vegas, I think it is beautiful and the geology is cool. I stopped at the dam and walked up the road, so I could take a photo of Black Canyon and the bridge (something I often thought of doing, but never actually took the time to do.) It is the first photo. This visit to Vegas changed everything. I stood outside the concert venue at 10:00pm with thousands of other survivors. We hugged, we drank, and we had a good time. I made new friends. I remembered that Vegas is fun. ...