Mayacamas*

Our house is right at the foot of these mountains and, it's a case of being too close to get the long view. It was nice from Spike's Meadow this morning. Unfortunately what looks like mist is mostly smoke from fires elsewhere in the state, but it is supposed to change tomorrow when there will be no excessive heat or air quality advisories....

I cogitated on communication and how it has changed with the advent of computers, 24/7 news as I continued to unlock the key to the current quilt. (It's a little like having a word on the tip of your tongue but you just can't quite get it as I move squares and triangles around.) I believe things have changed so quickly that as we try to keep up, we forget that the original iPhone came out just 15 years ago in 2007. When did we start reducing real emotions to cartoon emojis?

We all talk about how we rely on our grandchildren, or someone of their generation to help us with our technical problems but does that mean we have abandoned our responsibilities to guide them in how to think critically and respond to puzzling problems by Googling them...and accepting the answers without questioning them.?

I really feel for this generation which bears the brunt not only of responding to this explosion of information, but of dealing with the mess we have made of things. When I say 'we' I use the collective term loosely.  I do understand that it doesn't apply to every individual, or even, in fact, to many good and thoughtful people, but there seems to be a growing number of people who don't question what they read on the social media they have chosen to follow. And perhaps the younger generation feels they just don't have time to think for themselves....I wouldn't blame them...

*Mayacamas,  (ma-yá-ca-mas)  comes from the indigenous Wappo language and is believed to mean 'the howl of the mountain lion'. Interesting case in point. The only way to find out how this word should be pronounced when Googled has only audio pronunciations. Phonetic spelling of words doesn't seem to exist anymore.