Your body is an ocean.
Deep below,
under crushing pressure,
a volcanic fissure spits fire
and bloody light reveals
monsters writhing in mortal combat,
while miles above,
your fleeting smile
is a sailboat
on stalled waters.
12/11/08 2am
[Previously published on: Apr 5, 2013 @ 02:00 ]
All photos: Copyright (c) 2015 by Mark Justice Hinton. All Rights Reserved.
First photo of male Cock of the Rock (above)
I first heard of the Cock of the Rock years ago, after Merri led an impromptu expedition in Ecuador in search of the bird described as both showy and shy.
Last November, we were riding in a van for hours along miles of dirt road that skirt an edge of the Manu jungle region of Peru. Much of that day consisted of riding, stopping, getting out, standing by the road to look for birds while other vehicles roared pass. As we slowed for a turn before crossing a beautiful wide stream, the first Cock of the Rock male I’d ever seen landed on a branch, perhaps not 6 feet from my window (photo above). Snap! Be ready for your opportunities.
(The first female Cock of the Rock I saw was barely visible on a nest in shadow under an overhang above the Urubamba river in Aguas Caliente, near Machu Picchu. Dave Mehlman and I were wandering when a bus driver asked, “have you seen the Cock of the Rock on the nest?” Well, no actually.)
To me, the Cock of the Rock is simultaneously beautiful and ugly. The shape of the head defies logic. Look closely for the beak barely protruding from the feathers. The stark eyes are fish-like, or like the eyes pasted on stuffed animals. Yet the power of the intense red contrasting with the dapper grey and black is undeniable.
The next day, our group drove to a roadside viewing area adjacent to a lek, the competitive breeding grounds for Cocks of the Rock. Plastic tarps formed a wall to minimize dust and noise from passing vehicles. A local guardian kept the key to a locked gate that blocked the steep steps down to a narrow uneven path a dozen paces to a viewing stand, not a blind, but a rickety porch without other attachment, directly behind the plastic tarps. This viewing area looked down a hill that was dense jungle.
At the worst time, more than a dozen people jostled quietly on this platform for a chance to see and photograph one of the half a dozen or so Cocks of the Rock, mostly showy males. Viewing was very challenging through the tangle, though it’s easy to scan green for brilliant red. The loud sore-throat croak of the males also helps you find them.
Photographs required manual focus. There were just too many points to distract autofocus, but automatic exposure settings worked fine. Though the jungle was dim, these birds don’t move very fast.
Eventually, the flock of birders moved on, leaving just 3 of us to watch longer. During this time, the birds moved closer, still not as close as that first bird. It was a delightful moment.
More photos from Peru (about 170)
All photos: Copyright (c) 2015 by Mark Justice Hinton. All Rights Reserved.
If I didn’t find the public voice of gun ownership so bellicose and arrogant and self-serving, I’d feel sorry for people who are so sure they are in constant danger that they must have a gun for comfort. Or for people who are so limited in entertainment options that they must have a gun for fun. Or for people who are so enamored of killing animals, they have to have a gun. Saddest and most frightening are those who believe the only reason they are free is because of guns. I’d feel sorry for them, if I weren’t disgusted and tired of the bullshit.
If you ever wade through the arguments presented by pro-gun commenters, you’ll distill their arguments along these lines:
Any object can be used to hurt or kill someone: screwdriver, hammer, car, gun. Therefore, no rules can apply to a gun that don’t make sense applied to any other object. Do you really want to register screwdrivers? If you do, only criminals will have screwdrivers. (Just to be clear: rules that do apply to potentially deadly objects like cars CANNOT apply to guns.)
No object is mentioned in the Second Amendment other than guns. There is no ambiguity in that amendment: it emphatically states everyone can have any gun. Therefore, guns are the one object we can’t “restrain.” The Second Amendment trumps all others, except for free speech, and you better have a gun when you exercise that. Gun ownership is an inalienable right. (Freedom from violence is not. However, the only way to be free from violence is to own a gun.)
No object can be used for self-defense like a gun. Not a baseball bat, not a knife, not a fist. Therefore, nothing is a better defense than having a gun. Efforts to control gun violence are a literal attack on people and intended to tie them up so the bad guys win. Why do you hate freedom?
Guns are fun. Guns are traditional. Guns build character. Guns do more good than harm. Guns do no harm at all. If you don’t have a gun, you’re not entitled to an opinion (rather, your opinion is wrong).
No one is responsible for accidental death involving a gun. Not the gun owner. Not the guy who made money selling the gun owner the gun (without safety lock / cabinet or training) and the bullets (armor-piercing — it’s his right!). Not the industry that grows fat on blood. Not the politicians they own. Not the rabble they rouse for their endless profit. After all, it could have happened with a can opener. Do you really want to outlaw can openers?
I tell gun owners no one is going to take their gun away. I agree to what I can about data. Then, I ask: what can we do about gun violence. Most answer with more of the above “logic.” Some mention “mental health.” Are you willing to pay a tax on gun-related sales for mental health services?
Like many of us, I’m sad to learn of David Bowie’s death. He was a rock star before that concept became trivial. He moved us, inspired us, shocked us, delighted us. There will never be another like him.
Take a moment to consider that today thousands, more likely millions, of people will die. Few will have been rock stars but most will be mourned by loved ones who will experience that depth of grief that ultimately unites us all, the real price of love. Most of us never get over that grief completely.
Live. Love. Move. Be kind, be open, be patient. Take care of each other. Stop hating something. Death is more absolute and unending than we can comprehend. Now is our time. Peace.
We went to Peru in November, 2015. We traveled with a small group of friends, under arrangements made by Dave Mehlman, birdman extraordinaire. In the course of 2 full weeks, from Lima, to Cusco, to Machu Picchu, to the jungle of Manu, I took too many photos. In the 2 months since, I have taken too long to pull out these. I hope you enjoy them.
Each photo is a link to the album of 179 photos. Be sure to look at the 263 photos by Merri Rudd, as well.
(User’s guide: Follow the link to a page of photos. Select any photo for a large version with caption. You can step through photos or use the Slide Show option at the top of any one photo.)
Diane Dimond sums it up nicely.
Albuquerque Journal | States doing what Congress won’t on gun control laws By Diane Dimond / Crime and Justice
Eighteen states have passed tougher gun buyer background check laws. Nine states have adopted laws to keep guns out of the hands of known domestic abusers. …
Yes, 99.9 percent of all gun owners are responsible citizens, so it raises the question: Where are they on the issue of keeping firearms out of the hands of those who would use them for ill? To blindly accept the NRA’s age-old mantra of “We already have enough laws!” solves nothing. It leaves us powerless against the next mass shooting, the next gang carnage.
It’s easy to pooh-pooh the various suggestions about how to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them. Critics of change seem to think that, unless a proposal is 100 percent guaranteed to fix the gun problem in America, we should reject it.
I’ll take constitutionally sound baby steps over years of Washington’s inaction any day.
Albuquerque Journal | States doing what Congress won’t on gun control laws
