( You can click the photos and navigate them left or right)

Implications for social intelligence vs. individual intelligence. Studies suggest a higher level of general intelligence occurs among cooperating individuals--something that labs studying people in isolation fail to account for:
aeon.co/essays/how-the-brains-of-social-animals-synchronise-and-expand-one-another
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European Americans and Native Americans views of eachother:
nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/peoples/text3/indianscolonists.pdf

Expounds on the 3 means of maintaining power--Beaucracy, violence, charisma/politics...also much more:
thedigradio.com/podcast/the-dawn-of-everything-w-david-wengrow/

Elite Universities locking average income students out of classes: 
www.npr.org/2022/06/21/1106321170/dartmouth-college-student-loans-financial-aid-household-income

Unemployed professors writing essays and completing coursework at a cost, undermining legitimicacy of universities--most especially, those in which students can afford to pay for the work to be completed:
unemplyoedprofessors.com/

Chief Kondiaronk was referenced in "The Dig" podcast with David Wengrow. Kondiaronk was a famous Native American warrior and orator who visited the French courts and debated about the supposed merits of European civilization: 
www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-17th-century-huron-chief-kondiaronk-can-still-teach-us-valuable-lessons

Covid-19 and the play crisis. Whats at stake?
childandfamilyblog.com/play-deprivation-early-child-development/

I listened to the Law and Order among the Anarchists. This is a really well produced podcasts on the current war and politics in Syria and Iraq. Progressive ideologies playing out in the void left by ISIS and the U.S. invasion:
www.thewomenswar.com/

​"We need a new kind of approach to learning that shifts imagination from the periphery to the foundation of all knowledge":
​aeon.co/essays/why-we-need-a-new-kind-of-education-imagination-studies
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Art has become the most visible signal for monitoring my daughters emotional well-being. I know if, at just over two years old, she is able to sustain the attention to produce a painting or scrawling of marker and crayon, then she is feeling comfortable with her surroundings and place among loved individuals in the world, and additionally, she  knows those individuals will be there to appreciate the effort. These wonderful pieces I attribute to the presence of my parents and their current visit, although she never seems at a loss to make something. It is very encouraging as a father to say the least. 

I feel like I've been going on about gratitude to the point where if any God is listening I am wearing them out. Regardless, things couldn't be going better now and just in time for the holiday to recognize it, Thanksgiving, which Jess, Maryanne, and I will be celebrating as a family with so much to be thankful for. Maryanne is doing great. She is ahead on weight and basically sleeping through the night--just waking up once or twice to down a bottle before nodding back off. And Jess is in high spirits, still finishing school but with plenty of time to dote. Finally, getting to this point has depended on a many things going just right for me: finding a job in fire, having a great initial season on a great crew, getting through the birth of our beautiful child, gaining acceptance in the UM grad school in the spring, and most recently, being offered and accepting a job next summer with the Logan Hotshots.

Hotshot jobs are very competitive with only a few openings on a relatively small number of crews each year.  The position entails all the challenges one would expect to find in a seasonal forest service position only more demanding, with little to no time afforded for me to return home over the six month season. It will be a sacrifice for sure, but I look at it like a military deployment, no different than thousands of men and women with families have and continue to experience. Most importantly, it will allow Jess, who will be independently raising Maryanne, to stay home through the summer, and it'll financially provide for her to student teach during the spring without working. While this kind of life may not be for everyone, it works for us, and she is very supportive. 

​All this being said,  I feel a renewed sense of purpose. I plan to appreciate all the time I can with my family until the summer and bust my butt in preparation for it.  Indeed, that preparation will be more than necessary. ​

​Every year during this time, on creeks and rivers throughout the west, a large orange-abdomened bug emerges from and takes wing above the waters for approximately two weeks.  These are the salmon fly, and when considering their occurrence, it’s hard not to sense something miraculous. To the trout, they are a bundle of protein to feed upon at the exact time the winter runoff starts to wane and the waters begin to warm, which causes the trout’s metabolism to kick into high gear. The energy the salmon fly provides helps propel the trout through the warmer months ahead, and their bright orange abdomens help the trout locate them in waters still murky from mountain sediment. It’s a perfectly calibrated system, each part seemingly evolving for the other, but inseparable from the whole… The great watch at work. 

Tomorrow my dog and I will part ways. Jess and I picked her up from one of my student's farms on the Blackfeet Reservation just over a year ago. It was in the dead of winter, windy, and bitter cold. Originally I planned to take home another dog he promised me, but as we searched from haybail to haybail where the dogs made their homes, that one was nowhere to be found. We walked back to the house, me thinking we might try another day. Then Jess pointed out one of the dogs from the pack that had been following us--the dog we would come to love and call Nika, meaning God's child. 

My student looked a little surprised at the choice. "She's sweet," Jess insisted and said she kept nuzzling her leg. I bent down to examine her, a mix we'd learn--- half-Great Pyrenees, one quarter Border Collie, one quarter German Shepherd. The fur on her face was matted with pus that oozed from a porcupine wound. We'd later find her flea infested and bloated with worms, barely able to walk and not likely to survive the rest of the winter, certainly not after my student dumped her with the rest of the Rez dogs in town like he had planned. They simply had too many dogs on the farm, couldn't feed them all, and his grandparents said get rid of her. We decided then we had to think about it, but sure enough, we returned the next week. 

By this time, Nika had lodged herself in a den underneath their house's foundation. It's the one she had found refuge in as a puppy the previous winter but had now clearly outgrown. It took my student's cousin, a giant ex University of Montana football player, to pull her out by her back legs. He then bear hugged her wildly squirmy body over to my covered truck bed and heaved her in. She was scared shitless, literally--she pooped all over my truck bed--but we got her home, and for several months and over many vet visits, we finally cured her of all her ills. 

I couldn't have been happier for the effort. She has turned out to be a wonderful dog in every way. I spent all summer and spring hiking with her. She accompanied me on rigorous solo trips into the Bob Marshall Wilderness and perilously dove into and swam across swollen rivers. She provided entertainment bounding endlessly after gophers she'd never catch, and she remained vigilant through the night on guard for bears. She slept curled up next to me under scrub pine during a vicious thunderstorm, and when I was invited on a horsepacking trip by two local cowboys, she followed us 25 miles to the top of the continental divide where she plopped her happy butt down directly facing into 70 mile per hour winds like a kid on a roller coaster. This might be my favorite Nika moment. 

​As much as I cherish the dog, I had to come to the hard realization that taking her to the city would not be the best for her nor for me and Jess, as we are looking for a place together. Nika's one fault is she will dig under fences, and she is used to roaming outside at her leisure. Additionally, I plan on firefighting over the summer and fall, which would leave the extra burden of exercising and taking care of Nika on Jess who is continuing school and will have other obligations. All said and considered, I created a craigslist ad one night, two weeks ago, almost spontaneously as everything seemed to hit me at once. I just wanted to see who was out there.

As it turned out, I got a response the next day. It was from a young guy. He has property in rural Montana. The property backs up to national forest land. There are no fences, tons of space to roam, and moreover, he wrote that he could take Nika to work at his construction office where she could lounge all day during the summer in the AC. This must be dog heaven I thought, and I immediately called him back to talk further. Just like that, we arranged to meet, me only feeling a tinge of sadness at the time, knowing what an incredible opportunity this would be.

Two weeks later, and the time has almost come. Tomorrow morning I will brush and wash Nika. It will be my last time hugging her as she buries herself into my arms. No longer will I hear her grunting in the evenings when she flops lazily in the living room and dreams sweet gopher dreams. No longer will I feel her gentle nudges in the morning to go back outside. I sincerely love and have enjoyed my time with this dog, but as I think about, I'm not sure I will cry. I'm happy for the time we have spent together, and I'm even happier for the place she will end up. The world is full of good dogs. I only hope in the future, when I'm a bit more settled, I will be able to find another as good as her.

First, I want to say how proud I am of the student-athletes at our school as well as the families, who’ve all overcome such difficult conditions to compete and support each other during the basketball tournaments. It is the epitome of resilience and has been the highlight of our year. The message I’m posting is not in any way intended to distract from that--not that I think anything really could at this point-- but rather it is to detail the one positive thing the weather has afforded me, and that has been the introspective time to evaluate the recent life decisions I’ve made and mentally prepare for the steps I need to take.

That said, I might as well be up front in stating that I turned in a resignation letter and won’t be working at Heart Butte next year. This is a conclusion I reached after a difficult and prolonged internal struggle. At times this job has been very challenging-- especially with the interruptions due to the weather and building repairs --but it’s also been an incredibly rewarding to work with the students, community, and staff.  I’ve met a lot of great people who’ve taught me as much or more than I feel I could ever teach, and for that, I am truly thankful.

Although I do eventually plan on returning to teaching—a conviction strengthened by my positive experiences—I have accepted a job starting June 4th on a wildland firefighting crew near Challis, Idaho.  This is a temporary position that runs through September. Once I finish, I plan to substitute teach and use the rest of my G.I. Bill in the spring to pursue my masters at the University of Montana. I can make good money this way, and as I plan to continue firefighting a few years, it will allow me to pay off some bills and save money for my future.

My first priority going forward, then, is to end the year on as strong a note as possible. This includes rooting our basketball team through state, striving to continue to provide high quality lessons and a safe learning environment, putting together another literature magazine and printing all four issues into one volume, taking the students out onto some hikes this spring with our camping gear, and seeking out a replacement for me. I want to do everything in my power to leave the school and the English classroom in a better position than before I arrived. These young men and women deserve it.

My next major priority is to prepare myself for the rigors of firefighting. I’ll be located in very mountainous and remote terrain, potentially working in some dangerous situations with other people counting on me. This is not the kind of work that’s entirely unfamiliar to me, and I find much to enjoy in the challenge, otherwise I wouldn’t so willingly enlist to do it.  I also take it very seriously and intend to report for the position in the best possible shape.

All this being the case, there’s a good chance I’ll be deactivating my Facebook before long, which should come as no surprise to anyone who’s realized my tendency to continually disappear and reappear.  While it has been useful for navigating the weather situations and staying connected with our school’s staff and basketball team, I frankly just get too distracted by it, and with so much on my plate right now, that’s not what I need.

If you’re still following along, the best way to contact me in the future is [email protected].

Best wishes and go Warriors!

Did three rounds of the following...

Hit my stand up bag while watching this fellow.

And I ended here...

Not bad. Now I'm going to brave the cold and help feed some cows. 

​Well we had a thaw in these parts that lasted about a month, but it seems winter has returned in its usual form of sub-zero temperatures, lots of snow, and even more wind. The wind might be the worst of it, as its absolutely cutting and eliminates the chance of doing much outdoors. I'm talking gusts of 90 or more at times. It ripped the gutter off the apartment next to me, leaving half attached, and all night I can hear it blowing and scraping across the ground and somewhere a little hole in the roof or ceiling or somewhere opened up and created this godawful whistling sound, which sent me to the couch with earplugs in. But that's beside the point.

The point is about this time, the same time I felt last year, I start getting the winter blues. Last weekend I hiked over Swift Dam, which was nice, but on my way up the snow was knee deep, and though snowshoes are on my to-buy list, I'm not in the position to afford them. This weekend I was just going to settle for having a fire. I even spent the evening organizing my gear to make a nice camp, but the wind chill has to be -10 below, and I'm not sure I could make it with the snow if it keeps falling like it's forecast. Its a good thing I stocked up on groceries, because we literally get cut off.

This all raises the question of what to do.

I'm thinking, make pancakes and coffee, working out to blow off some steam...and maybe I'll listen to some audio books about early polar explorers to put my sissy butt in its place. ha!