MY HANDPRINT

By Dennis Lantz The Hogan Journal continues: 5/18 - I sat by the creek smoking the pipe and waiting for Mark when the rain came. We went inside the hogan and read poetry that we had written in years past. I think of it as an opening up of our philosophy discussions. We talked of Thoreau, Whitman, Martin Luther King Jr. and many more. We talked about the Native Americans from this area, a topic I have studied in books from my father. It rained much of the day. It is still interesting to think that I am actually doing what I have always dreamed of doing. This will always be a part of me, the “who I am”. Now I just hope there is enough time in this summer to do all the learning that I want to do. 5/20 - As is becoming common, we sat around after dark philosophizing. This time we chatted about politics and the media and how the politically correct agenda of a few conformist liberals has influenced what people can and cannot do. Mark says it hides the truth more than hel...

By Dennis Lantz The recipe is simple: a starry night, an open field, a dash of motion and a smidgen of magic. The results are a whole lot of fun. Stars. We gaze at them. We imagine images of ancient heroes and villains hiding within them. They guided our ancestors on spiritual and physical journeys. Some people think we came from them… others think we should go there. (I am in the latter group. Hey, not like you have enough to worry about with the novel coronavirus, a disrupted economy and murder hornets… but the sun isn’t going to last forever. One day it is going to swallow up those tasty little planets that surround it… and us. Stick around a few million years and you may witness this!) But I digress. While staying in Gentlewoods, I learned something else about the stars… you can make them spin. Here is what I wrote then. 7/19 - Night of the spinning stars!!!! We walked up into the field… and eventually up to the house. On the way we noticed that the stars were ver...

By Dennis Lantz Where did you poop? What did you eat? How did you wash? Those questions were asked by just about everyone we talked to that year. The answers were rather simple, but we did our best to elaborate. I’ll do so again… I changed the headline by reversing the order because… well, it doesn’t sound right to say we pooped, we ate, we washed. 5/20 - We carved out wood and hammered together a rough square box to put a toilet seat on. Mark and I both worked at this for some time, though if anyone asks I will say that Mark made it. Constructional masterpiece it is not. I think it will work fine once the legs get squared off. 5/21 - Back at the hogan we cut off the legs of the toilet perch and the monstrosity turned into a thing of beauty!   6/8 - (with a visitor) We talked about all the things we had done… what we had eaten… made, etc. He used the shitter and thought it was awesome. It is awesome the first time because you are so aware of nature as you sit ...

By Dennis Lantz Politics surround us. It is in us and permeates every social activity. Those who say they do not like politics do not understand that all interactions are political. They may dislike campaigns, slogans and power-hungry office seekers or feel aggrieved about taxes and lack of personal liberty, but the truth is that two humans cannot gather without one seeking or giving an advantage… emotional, physical, spiritual, psychological or other. By listening, we bond. By sharing we improve our community. By fighting for our beliefs we gain satisfaction and animal dominance. By thinking, we gain clarity. Hopefully. I am currently reading Presidential Courage by Michael Beschloss . Without question, political motivations were in the hearts and soul of those who founded our country. Today’s attacks and high tension may seem new to us, but they are not without precedent. Even in the woods we were not isolated from politics. Whenever Mark or I journeyed to the house we t...