Cheryl Foster

Good Sunday to all!

Last week, I wrote a long diatribe on climate and fires and an inevitable acceptance that current leaders (worldwide) are doing little — especially (now) the U.S.  But, I offered no glimpse of hope, no thoughtful response, no helpful advice.

I’m not an expert at fixing the environment. I’ll admit this readily. I have read up (for years) on habits individuals CAN take that can have an impact, though. 

And so, in the spirit of offering some alternatives to giving up and doing nothing, here’s what I do:  I do what I can. I don’t expect perfection. I don’t expect to fix it all myself. I don’t hold unrealistic expectations. I don’t believe in beating myself up if I fall short of some obsessive mark.  But I do what I can and what seems possible to do. 

Vegetarianism

For years (into decades) I was a vegetarian. I’ve been eating chicken lately (I’ll admit it). But I’ve been, for the majority of my adult life, a vegetarian. This is not to be confused with a “vegan.”  Vegans are admirable.  They are the folks who take great care that everything they eat, wear, and otherwise use doesn’t harm animals or the environment.  This means no animal products anywhere, ever.  No eggs.  No cheese.  No fish.  (By the way, fish are animals, in case you’ve ever wondered.  They’re not a vegetable.)  I’ve tried to be a vegan multiple times. I always fall a little short.  After about six weeks, I’m smelling Bourbon Chicken in my dreams and running off to a Panda Express.  The longest I went as a vegan was about 9 months until it fell apart. 

But upshot: Vegetarianism is one thing that can help the planet and the environment.

For more information, go here.

Green Cleaning

I’ve used green cleaning products for years, even made my own. There are some things for which natural, green products don’t work the best.  It’s true.  (Grout cleaning anyone??)   But 90% of what you need to clean can be done with wonderful and natural ingredients.  Lemons?  Baking Soda?  Miracles can happen with those.

I recently got a book filled with ideas and recipes:
Simply Living Well

I’ve bought many of these types of books over the years.  But this book looks really helpful. I’ll write about it later, after I’ve tried some of it.

But Upshot: Cleaning with the Green ingredients helps

For some more information, go here. 

Other (the short list)

Seriously, there are so many other habits anyone can do (I do and have done) to help. None of these are new:

1. Get glass food storage (not plastic). You can reuse it!  It saves money and the environment.  (Think of mason jars or glass bowls.)
2. Recycle and buy with recycling in mind.  For instance, look at the box or container the thing you’re buying is in.  Is it trashy?  Or is it eco-friendly?  Some items are unavoidably trashy (given what they’re sold in), but becoming aware of the packaging and the potential trash is the first step.  (Note: If you can get the same type of thing in an eco-friendly box or container, go that route.)
3. Take your own bags to the store to pack your groceries in. If you forget, then so be it.  But if you’ve got a lot of these in the car, you won’t be collecting bags of “bags.”
4. Avoid plastic in general unless you have no choice. I’m talking about food, clothing, anything!
5. Have plants everywhere. I mean the real things, not the cloth fakers that look like plants.  Love the plants.  Bring the outside IN.  Plants clean the air and make really mellow friends.
6. Plant trees!  Love the trees.  Care for the trees, the forests. They’re not just in your yard. They are peaceful giants and some of the oldest species left on the planet. 
7. Turn off lights when you leave rooms. It’ll save you money and help the environment.
8. Get energy efficient appliances (i.e., energy star) or automobiles (if you can afford ‘em)
9. Buy organic (also if you can afford it).  Even if you can’t afford everything organic, maybe get a few things that way, like apples. In fact, anything with a skin you’ll eat??  Go organic.
10. Support the bees.  Without the bees, we’re all doomed. This does not mean raising a bee colony.  But if you see them, respect them.  Help them.  Grow flowers they love.  Don’t piss ‘em off. Don’t use chemicals to kill them. Have an invasive hive moved; don’t exterminate them.  
11. Use energy offsets if your local provider has these available. The idea is that you support “green” energy sources as alternatives to the usual energy sources. It might cost a little more, but you’re supporting newer, cleaner technology.

That’s a short list of what I try to do. If I included all the suggestions here, this would turn into a book!  But the point is that we don’t have to do nothing. I do the above, although not perfectly and not all the time. Yeah, it isn’t a set of policies enacted by a major government.  But it’s something.

Happy Sunday

🎵

Moved

We are finally moved into our new abode. The week was a haze of disordered living and laborious organization. But it’s done now. I can finally get back to arranging songs.

Meanwhile… What’s on the mind lately?

As I ponder the L.A. fires, the new administration, our retreat from the Paris Accord, the “drill baby drill” philosophy, I can’t help but worry.  Why are things stuck in a pattern of denial and entropy about climate change?  Most of the populations worldwide know all too well something is wrong with the weather as they face one 1000-year-storm-event after another.  The movement to change is difficult to coordinate. Very rich people (who have vested interests in keeping markets the way they are) see the alternatives (like Clean Energy) as expensive with little immediate reward. We lack infrastructure to support much of it anyway.

Some 50 years ago, Gas and Oil companies were aware of the dangers of continued fossil fuel usage. But companies like Exxon/Mobile decided the better way to address the crisis was to confuse and cloudy up the messages.  On the one hand, they had some predictive models that showed the climate changes on the horizon (if we continued to use fossil fuels as we had).  On the other, they’d then release information to sow doubt. Their models were essentially correct.  What did we (as a country or population) do about it?  Answer: Almost nothing.  

I don’t blame individuals. We do what we can.  But it’s like teaspoons in an ocean. It’s our governments (local to national), our so-called leaders, our philosophies on what should remain private (and capitalist) vs. public (and shared) that we need to look at.  Capitalists have had a REALLY HARD TIME creating alternatives when there’s no infrastructure to support any of it.  It’s a flawed model.

So as I think about the L.A. fires and hear about how local officials knew for decades about the threat of fires and yet did little to prevent it?  I think of the people who lost everything.  Why? It didn’t need to be the way it was. But everything from city planning to construction to land management failed — that’s not even considering the water system (pressure) that failed in the thick of the crisis.  

No one in charge thought to design for the very real threat of a massive fire?  Or maybe they did and got nowhere?

These changes are HARD. They are expensive. They require sacrifice.  They require letting go of something (an idea, a design, a vision) people expect.

I understand they will rebuild back in the areas of the fires — i.e., Pacific Palisades, Altadena.  How will they rebuild, though?  The same way?  Quickly? Has anyone taken a step back to design and consider a less fire-prone approach?  Probably not.  They’re in a hurry.  They want a return to normalcy as soon as it’s possible.

But what’s normal if you live in constant threat of another fire to take the next home down?  That’s no way to live. 

Root Cause?

I could look at laziness as being one of the more obvious answers. Reluctance is another one.  But that’s waaaaaaaaaay too simple an answer. 

It’s a very complex equation of:

• How we design cities
• How we build houses (like materials)
• What we (as a society) expect homes to look like
• Our comfort levels in the neighborhoods
• Our expectations for things like electricity, water and gas to “be there” for us

It’s a long list of expectations.  Would people be okay with a cement block of a home made of concrete and steel?  Would it survive an earthquake?  Or: Would people be okay with homes further apart, more expensive, and made with less flammable materials?

We have come to expect better, faster and cheaper. We were raised on that concept. We hold on hoping that a home in that area (like Altadena) can be built fast and affordable.  But what is affordable at this point?  I wouldn’t want to pay $500,000 for a home that burns down again in 10 years.  Would you?

Alarms

I wrote a song a few years back that bring these ideas to mind. This was more of a response to the fires in Paradise, CA — the inferno from 2018. There again, people had bought fragile homes in a fire-prone environment.  I had seen a listing for a “home” in Paradise for $700K.  It was a burned-out hull.  There was little but the foundation left.  $700K seemed ridiculous.  (Yeah, what a deal. 😒)

To date, Paradise is apparently only back to one-third of the population. Many left. And it’s not really the “affordable” location it was once touted as now anyway.

I really ask the question: Wouldn’t somebody pull the alarms if there’s danger?? Get us moving physically and mentally?  

ANSWER:  Guess not…  

I’m moving. 🚚  This will be 2 times in the past year. I don’t know about any of you, but buying a house these days means getting lucky with the seller AND spending a fortune.  It’s also a big gamble.  Given today’s market, real estate could falter and values drop by greater than half.  But given the rise and fall of real estate prices in the past 50 years, it’s unlikely.  They might come down (witness 2008), but I don’t think they’re crashing any time soon.  (For those of you who want a house and can’t afford one? I know where you’re at. I was there for decades. I know it’s frustrating.)

So today, we packed a smallish truck and moved our stuff about 150 miles from where we were in Seattle.  We would have tried to buy in the Seattle area.  But unless you’ve inherited, you’re extremely rich, or you’re willing to work 3 jobs, Seattle’s too expensive.

About Moving?

If you haven’t moved recently, I don’t think this will be a surprise but: IT’S TIRING.

Between stuffing your possessions in boxes and hauling it around (3 flights of stairs, by the way), it’s a huge physical and mental stressor.

Now me? Ever the creative, obsessive type, I didn’t tear down my studio until yesterday at 9:00 PM.  That’s because I was all about this song I’m working on.  And it took about two hours to pack the whole of room once I put the song away.  But c’est la vie.

Now comes putting it all back together.  That’s tomorrow.

Minimalism?

I’ve thought myself to be a non-materialist and minimalist for at least 15 years.  But when I see our material footprint fits into a 15 ft U-haul truck, I must re-evaluate. It’s not like there’s tons of extraneous knickknacks or clutter.  There are six guitars, two keyboards, five computers, chairs, mic stands, music stands, microphones, monitors, chords… and on and on.  Fifty percent of it is MUSIC.

Upshot: I don’t know that I’d survive well as a Buddhist nun in a monastery — or any monastery, actually.

(In the Thich Nhat Hahn tradition, I’ve heard monks and nuns keep their belongings down to two suitcases. 😳  Me? I could have two suitcases for each subject — i.e., music, clothing, bathroom, kitchen, etc.  Well, maybe two suitcases and a LOT of other cases for instruments.  Otherwise, it’d be pretty HARD for me unless I secretly rented a storage space for everything else and didn’t tell anyone — kind of the antithesis of being a spiritual monk or nun.  LYING.  🤥. I’d make a bad nun.

Sad fires

This past week has been a lot about fire and watching it take down large swaths and neighborhoods of the Los Angeles basin. As I sit writing this, I’m up in an area that’s wet and wetter — i.e., Seattle. But I lived in L.A. for 20+ years. I know those neighborhoods. I had friends there, places I’d visit. Now: GONE.

Same with Lahaina. Similar types of fast-moving fires.

For anyone politicizing the event or gloating for the liberals who are getting their just “do” from the big man upstairs? I say this: Ask not for whom climate change tolls, it tolls for thee.

There are no longer safe spaces of refuge from the weird weather patterns. They are everywhere and getting worse with each passing day. Ya wanna live in Florida? Stay toward the middle. Otherwise, you’ll be “hurricaned” or flooded out. Wanna live in the Mid-West?  Good luck with the tornados and the wild straight-line storms (where winds can reach 80 mph). This doesn’t mention the hail damage or the flooding.

But the Fires in L.A.?  This isn’t even the SEASON for fires to take hold. It’s supposed to be wet, not dry.

There are victims interviewed saying they’re just glad to be alive. And that’s true, no doubt. There’s that hackneyed saying that goes: “You can replace things, you can’t replace people.” Or pets… or memories… or cherished belongings. Except THAT’s what people lost. They lost all of it. And they lost it all in an afternoon with little warning in a panic.

Imagine that was you. How’d that work? Yes, you’re alive. But homes are like trusted friends. They’re our havens, our buddies. They have character. They shelter, contain, protect. They represent some very deep aspect of ourselves. And it’s all gone in the blink of an hour on a Tuesday.

In Buddhism and Yoga, there’s the sage advice to not attach to much in your life for all that you love and cherish dies, it changes, or it falls away over time. And certainly, this is true. But this is frigid comfort to a victim of these fires.

And lest you think you’re immune, think again. This can easily be you if you’re in the wrong area at the wrong time.

My guess is these fires will trigger an investigation. Cause will be determined. Someone, something will get the blame. But (and this might be controversial), I suspect the blame lies in decades of neglect, assumptions, and a lack of planning for the worst outcomes. “That won’t happen here,” tends to be a motto. Or worse!: “That might happen here, but we don’t want to pay for the changes needed to protect the population and property. We’ll just assume the risk.”  People in power tend to swap out. One person might come in a vision for attending to the changes needed only to be replaced by another who kills it. “Too expensive,” “too hard,” “too bureaucratic.”

But that kind of short-term thinking won’t work any longer — not in our every-changing environment.

So I feel deep empathy for the victims of these fires. They’ve lost not only their homes, memories, and everything they had, but they likely cannot move back. It’ll be too expensive. Insurance stopped covering fires for a lot of homeowners over a year ago in that area.  This just adds insult to injury.

I’ve written songs about climate change.  I’ve got another one coming. It’s on the top of my mind precisely because of fires like the ones out in L.A. now. But it’s not just the fires. It’s the storms, the rains, the droughts, the heat domes. And it’s everywhere.

Again: Ask not for whom climate change tolls, it tolls for all of us. 
And we need significant changes to deal with it.
 🙏

 
(2 of 52)

New Year, New Intention

I’m going to try something this year.  It’s called: Post every week on something related to the creative process of writing, producing, distributing songs NO MATTER WHAT.  

That sounds easy, right? But, here’s the thing, it can be bumblingly hard. Life happens. Obstacles occur. Blank-slate minds come along. Busy-ness intrudes, and hospitalization might even be involved.

Sounds ominous.

But I think it’s time I commit to something that resembles a schedule and stick to it.

Why, What Happened? Why now?  I’ve been so flakey in the past. What changed?

I was recently (and finally) diagnosed with a little thing I’ve had since childhood: ADHD.  You might wonder why it was never caught before?  Well, for one, I’m old. For another, when the medical community caught on to this neuro-divergent condition, it was mostly boys considered — you know, the kids literally jumping off the walls. Girls were typically well-behaved; they may have been spacey, but they were not the behavioral problems posed by boys who needed Methylphenidate (a.k.a., Ritalin).

But it’s the 21st Century now. A lot of study has occurred. New models have emerged. And I fit the mold perfectly.

But, also, over the years it means I tend to pick things up, put them down and otherwise abandon them until I’ve circled back.  I cycle through a whole host of interests that I get hyper-focused on until I’m not.

So, if I can even keep this up for three months, it will be a bit of a victory.

How’ll this look?

It’ll look like articles — i.e., this one.

It’ll could also look like Vlogs, music, snippets, random thoughts and anything else related to the act of living and creating music.

Thing is:  All of life influences a musician or a writer. In fact, anyone with a creative side is influenced by everything in their environment all the time. 

I can’t write about YOUR creative process. I have no idea how that goes. But I can at least share out some ideas on what it’s like to be yet another ADHD’er with a penchant for writing music.

What Have I been Working on Lately?

I’ve been building out a new song called Japan. It’s actually 1 of about 9 songs I’m planning to release this year alone. It’s an auditory mood piece evoking a feeling of isolation in a foreign country. Sounds like a happy little tune, right? (sarcasm) But my hope is that it comes across as more of an impressionist painting of pagodas, cherry blossoms mingled with a tinge of sadness.

Something a little like this (only not really):

(This is a lovely A.I. generated image that’s not quite what I have in mind but close enough to avoid copyright infringement…)

Now, let’s see if I get that article written for next week.

Until next Sunday…

(1 of 52)

Hello out there!

When I last left this web site, I had done a bunch of releases and was intending to do more. But a silly thing happened on the way to that goal:  I went back to playing the oboe.  

Unlike John Lennon who was famous for saying “Life happens while you’re making other plans,” I was busy chasing other plans as life was happening.  

I hunted for a new oboe, made reeds, learned hard pieces, got a teacher – the whole shebang.  And I WAS back to playing by the time a year and a half had rolled by. 

But I missed writing music and singing it.  I also missed playing music that didn’t feel as if I’d been run over by a hearse.  Oboes are brutal to play as a hobby.  It can be done. But it makes for a miserable life. (This is my own personal point of view, by the way. Other oboists LOVE to play.) 

You might be wondering, “Why is an oboe like a hearse and where did that come from?”

Oboes are notorious for back-pressure and a sense that you’re suffocating while playing it. If oxygen deprivation is your “thing,” go ahead… play an oboe.  If you like breathing, though?  Maybe play flute instead. 

So, I restarted the music factory over here. New songs have been written. It’s just a matter of getting them recorded and released.  And now that I’m not clouded by a rather dubious detour into oboe-land, I can focus more on writing songs and producing.  

A few changes while I pursue this:

1. A minimalist (a.k.a., cheap!) web site.
2. Bandcamp for releases
3. DIY - Doing everything (recording, producing, and mastering) over here in my own world.  

Mixing and mastering by others has sounded great. I’m not knocking their work. It’s just expensive. 

If you’re at all familiar with the music industry, this won’t come as a surprise. If you aren’t it might. But hardly anybody makes any money releasing music these days.  Taylor Swift?  Yes, of course she does.  But then there’s the 99% of the rest of us.  We write for the love of writing and sharing.

And I will be sharing a lot coming up… 

Until next time. 

🙏