I have found most folks around here to be polite and have pretty good manners, when I ride the CATA bus many people thank the bus driver when departing. In Boston not so much.
On to a quit different subject, I have noticed a number of trees this season that have been cut by animals along the Red Cedar. I have brought this up before, but it looks like a beaver's cut. I guess it could be muskrats, but these are fairly large trees. MSU has put up protective fences around many trees, so I guess there are more of whatever critters are cutting the trees and bark. Has anyone ever heard of a beaver dam in the Red Cedar?
Drug laws and all the issues surrounding are far, far more nuanced than "it's racism" and "Nixon/Republicans did it". The racist drug user tropes were just propaganda tools, not the ideological foundation of the policy, it's tough to say how large of a role they played in building support. I know how things are portrayed by academics and certain partisan people/groups. I know how the issue is presented in history classes and the media. Democrats have done nothing meaningful to counter the drug war, nor offered any sensible alternatives (other than isolated suppor the ridiculous concept of "decriminalization" for some things). Federal drug prohibition has been and still is an issue with wide bipartisan support, playing the partisan blame-game doesn't work here. We'll just have to agree to disagree, I don't really feel like writing an essay, I'd just repeat my encouragement to step outside the partisan framework.
I am unfamiliar with the author Arnade, I certainly agree with the assertion about people living in an urban environment requiring a high degree of trust in order for the system to be able to function. China's authoritarian system probably isn't a great example because everything is imposed from the top down making the whole system incredibly fragile, before even considering that the image portrayed internally and to the outside world is an at least partially fabricated one. Japan is unique in the world and somewhere we could learn from but they are an incredibly homogeneous society in just about every way, almost opposite of the US, so I don't know how directly one could apply lessons.
Regarding the Red Cedar tree cutting: I'd wager that the trees that appear to have been cut down by beavers have, in fact, been cut down by beavers. I've not seen one but beavers are around
Just for a final point, I have tried to say perhaps poorly that the issues of drug abuse and anti-social behaviors are health and mental illness problems. When the vast majority of people of color are the people who are in jail for drug offences, that whatever racism had to do with enacting anti-drug laws it seems to have an effect on who gets busted. As for the idea that both sides are at fault for the failed war on drugs it is a repub- "President" who is currently blowing small boats out of the water and illegally killing nearly one hundred people without any evidence that those people were guilty of anything. Drug wars and probation have done nothing but fund the underworld give jobs to police, lawyers, and prison guards. Perhaps a liberal society would have sympathy for people suffering and make sure that the people who are being targeted are actually criminals. I don't remember any Democratic Presidents committing war crimes and possibly starting a war in the phony name of stopping drug smugglers. Just sayin'
I would love to see a beaver in a Lansing river. When I was a kid, the rivers were so polluted that the idea of beavers in the river would have been laughable. I have seen Blad Eagles and Great Blue Herons, Falcons and huge Redtail Hawks, if it is clean enough for them it could be there are beavers out there somewhere.
Here is my spring Red Cedar beaver report! The little fellows cut down several dozen small trees this winter along the river path behind Beal Garden. Including several white birches that were planted by MSU along the trail in the studium side. Beavers love birch trees. I wonder where they live, I would guess the swampy areas north of Mt. Hope. I have seen muskrats and weasels on the river trail. I have only seen beavers near my cabin in our Stewart Creek, and in New Hampshire where the beavers could be seen in the daytime. Maybe urban beavers only come out at night.
I still can't believe I made it to a few years ago without realizing beavers were not only present in our area, but kind of common. I had thought they had been eradicated around here. Particularly cool to see when you don't have to deal with the havoc they create.
On a slightly related note, here's a shameless promotion of a movie I like... If you like beavers (and comedies) you should check out "Hundreds of Beavers"
My land up north in Iosco County has a fast-flowing stream Stewart Creek that is joined by Hoppy Creek which runs from a little spring feed lake called Hoppy Lake, there are beavers in the area although not really one my land, they build dams upstream in the Huron National Forest which floods the forest and kills many trees besides the ones they cut. They removed a large dam in 2020, which was lowering the flow of our stream, it was kind of wild to see this wall of black water washing down the valley kind of alarming actually! we saw the Nat. park people drive by right after, so we guessed it was their work. It was also ironic that the next day was the day a huge rainstorm washed out the dams in Stanford and Edenville, we decided to go home when we heard about the flood warning that would be happening right on the route we take home along M-30. Six years later they are still working on the dams and levees and have yet to refill the drained lakes. Our little bridge was washed away in one piece; I was glad we did not witness that event. I would say that there are more beavers in the Red Cedar now after seeing much more cutting and bark being stripped this winter.
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On to a quit different subject, I have noticed a number of trees this season that have been cut by animals along the Red Cedar. I have brought this up before, but it looks like a beaver's cut. I guess it could be muskrats, but these are fairly large trees. MSU has put up protective fences around many trees, so I guess there are more of whatever critters are cutting the trees and bark. Has anyone ever heard of a beaver dam in the Red Cedar?
I am unfamiliar with the author Arnade, I certainly agree with the assertion about people living in an urban environment requiring a high degree of trust in order for the system to be able to function. China's authoritarian system probably isn't a great example because everything is imposed from the top down making the whole system incredibly fragile, before even considering that the image portrayed internally and to the outside world is an at least partially fabricated one. Japan is unique in the world and somewhere we could learn from but they are an incredibly homogeneous society in just about every way, almost opposite of the US, so I don't know how directly one could apply lessons.
Regarding the Red Cedar tree cutting: I'd wager that the trees that appear to have been cut down by beavers have, in fact, been cut down by beavers. I've not seen one but beavers are around
I would love to see a beaver in a Lansing river. When I was a kid, the rivers were so polluted that the idea of beavers in the river would have been laughable. I have seen Blad Eagles and Great Blue Herons, Falcons and huge Redtail Hawks, if it is clean enough for them it could be there are beavers out there somewhere.
On a slightly related note, here's a shameless promotion of a movie I like... If you like beavers (and comedies) you should check out "Hundreds of Beavers"