A weekend of Love...

Today was a busy one. Drove home after a weekend in Las Vegas and what a weekend it was! A combination of Cirque du Soleil, hiking the Red Rocks, and bonding with someone who reveals the world to me in ways I could never envision on my own.

It was about a 4-hour drive and I returned home just in time for class and a council meeting. What a friggin' world we live in. One minute I'm listening to climate change injustices committed against indigenous peoples and the next I'm speaking in front of city council to discuss the banishment of single-use plastic bags.

I, for one, am grateful that we live in a time where public participation CAN influence how society operates. Consider the origin of the word: democracy.

ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from French démocratie, via late Latin from Greek dēmokratia, from dēmos ‘the people’ + -kratia ‘power, rule.’

To realize that we still have a chance to give our 2 cents for what we think the world should be is what is missing from our collective cognition. Like a sleeping drug that dopes our day-to-day consciousness, we focus our energies on satisfying impulses rather than contemplating space and time. Our attention is sacrificed for the moment-to-moment rush to go nowhere.

Hmm, well. It's getting late and I have another full day ahead of me. I would like to get around to discussing my research at some point but not tonight. What I can say is that I think the role of science education in today's society appears to meet more than the eye can capture...