Trauma drama

        The left often refer to their ideological opponents on the right as Nazis, Fascists, and racist. For them ,it seems the right is not about ideology at all. The right may propose smaller government, greater autonomy for individuals, reversing destructive trends in government and culture , etc., but they're really all about keeping disenfranchised and marginalized groups in their place, and advancing the interests of the already powerful. The rest is just a smoke screen. For their part, the right replies with claims that the left misunderstands everything it sees, often projects it's own pathologies on opponents, exalts feelings over facts, and disregards reality wherever reality contradicts what they wish to see. When the left claim offence ,or feeling threatened by the actions or words of the right, they're dismissed as " pearl clutchers " and " snowflakes ". I sometimes wonder how much all this apparent offence taking is sincere.
       Last Sunday the Daily Northwestern, the student newspaper at  prestigious Northwestern University published an editorial, signed by It's editor and chief and seven other editors of that paper, including it's chair of inclusion and diversity. I wonder how many newspapers have a chair of inclusion and diversity?  I have a feeling that the diversity they are encouraging doesn't extend to diversity of ideas. Gender identity, racial identity, and god knows what else have siezed the day, and cancelled out that quaint consideration. The world of identity politics has swepped aside everything in its path. What makes this particular editorial interesting isn't the number of signers, it's the apology it contains from the paper to the student body. The editors are sorry for their coverage of a recent speaking event on campus by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. They're sorry for posting photos of some of the protesters who showed up to shut down the event and prevent Sessions from speaking ( an outcome they were largely successful in causing ), and for their reporters gathering student comments .The editors were sorry that the paper did it's job, because in doing what newspapers do, and are supposed to do, some students felt threatened, and that their privacy was compromised.
        The editorial is available online. For me it's entire contents are fascinating to read. I'd love to quote fully, but it's longer than I have space to include. Here are excerpts from its last paragraph, at least, " Although the paper desires to document the gravity of the events that took place on the campus, the editors have decided to prioritize the trust and safety of students... We feel that covering traumatizing events require a different response than many other stories. While our goal is to document history and spread information, nothing is more important than ensuring our fellow students feel safe- and in situations like this, that they are benefiting from our coverage rather than actively being harmed by it. We failed to do that last week, and we could not be more sorry. "
       The word that stands out above others is " traumatizing ". Apparently the short visit by the former A.G. from the Trump administration to the campus was traumatizing, particularly to " those who identify with marginalized groups " as earlier mentioned in the editorial. I get it that many Northwestern students might not agree with Sessions, or the president he represented, but how could his presence represent anything remotely traumatizing? And if by some flight of imagination it could be construed as traumatizing to anyone, weren't they free to stay away ? What made some students feel compelled to shut down the event? If, instead, the taumatization refers to some student activists finding their faces connected with the protest then that" trauma" was easily avoided as well by their being somewhere else on that day.                                                                 Why do many students across the country feel similar compulsion to shut down the speeches of conservative speakers? Why must the University's hosting these speaches spend many thousands of dollars, millions all together, to secure the safety of conservative speakers and not for anyone else ? When did these bastions of free speech become antagonistic to the whole notion. When did free inquiry go out of fashion there, and why? When did the dogmas of the left become unassailable ? When did questioning the left's hegemony in these institutions become so sacred that it requires violence and heckling to defend? 
       Yeah, I've got lots of questions. I'd like to know when answering to the baying mobs became the chief duty of journalists, forcing basic reportage and truth telling to the back seat? 
        I was raised generations before child car seats and widespread helicopter parenting. College students today are from a more sheltered generation.  I suppose their expectations of protection and coddling are considerably higher than what I'm familiar with.  I guess providing safe spaces for their pampered students is increasingly considered the University's highest calling and the press must play along. Good luck with that.

The missing bicycle

       The trickiest bit about traveling with a bicycle isn't the riding, it's the conveying. Bikes take very well to being ridden. They seem to take umbrage at being transported.  True to their passive aggressive nature they take their revenge by tossing off washers and bolts, or anything else left unsecured while your'e not looking. Bike touring is pretty straightforward. You strap everything to the bike you think will be useful and sit on the seat and peddle. But, every once in a while you get as far as you can easily get by peddling and throw your contraption on to some other machine and trust that you'll both get to your destination unscathed.  That doesn't always work out. Things can go wrong. For me, they often have. I've had my bikes bent and made unrideable by careless baggage handlers. I've made them unrideable myself when I've lost or overlooked necessary pieces of hardware . Once I even got at my my destination only to open the box I'd placed my bicycle in finding that I'd left the wheels behind. I've sometimes left out the pedels. I can't even count the number of times I've botched reassembling the headset and had to take it in to a bike mechanic for adjustment. The last time this happened the mechanic took pity on me and showed me that all I had to do is remove the handlebars and I could leave the headset alone. Traveling with a bike in tow has involved a lot of trial and error, but mostly error.  
        I'm traveling Amtrak as I write this. The train has stopped for ten minutes or  to pick up passengers in Johnstown Pa. I rode to Grand Junction by the scenic route and I'm taking the train from there to New Jersey to see my family. Amtrak supplied me with a large box to carry the bike and most of my camping gear in. It's so large that I didn't have to remove the wheels to fit the bike into the box, so there's no danger of leaving them out but I'm wondering what I did with those peddles. I'm not so worried about what happened to them as I am worried about the bike generally. There have been two transfers on this journey. Can I really expect Amtrak to get it right and move that precious box at the right time to the right location? I don't know. It's out of my hands. A traveler has to live by faith the same way that your garden variety saint does. You need to trust that things will work out, and if they don't, you need to trust that works out too. You could try traveling without faith, maybe put the responsibility on a travel agency, have everything planned and reserved for you. I'm not sure how much that resembles  traveling the way I do it. It sounds like  all the real traveling has already been done for you. The only interesting part for me is the uncertainty. If I wanted certainty I would have stayed home. But what do I know? I'm the guy that packs his bicycle without noticing that I've left out the wheels.
       The train has just crested a mountain range. Which is it ,the Tuscarora, the Blue Ridge, the Kittatinny , Allegheny? It's very misty up here and overcast. I can see a freeway winding it's way through the mountains below.  Most of the trees still have leaves attached with colors  from deep red through all the hues of amber, to bright yellow.  Oak is the dominant tree on these mountains, especially white oak. There's also maple and hickory. The conductor has just announced that we are now rounding " the world famous horseshoe curve".  I know train spotters think highly of this landmark. The scenery is great here, especially with fall colors, but the horseshoe curve isn't so impressive. The evening before last the California Zephyr was descending the front range into Denver. That was a more spectacular descent by far, including an unannounced horseshoe bend. The view was vast. The drop immense. There was a foot of newly fallen snow.  Behind the peaks the sun was setting  casting a golden glow over everything, the city ,the plain, the mountains.  The scale of the West is so far beyond anything in the East . An obscure eroded cliff or gully, a little noticed mountain, in the Western U.S. wouldn't pass unnoticed in the East. It would attract tourists. It might be named a National park. 
       Here's a postscript ,written the next day. Surprise, surprise, the bike didn't make it. Amtrak just called to say they have it now.