Kathy Watson

Finest moments
What she's reading
Work samples
Words worth

Stu Watson

Finest moments
What he's reading
Work Samples
Words worth

What Stu's Reading

• I finished it a long while ago, but I keep going back to it, because it makes so much sense about how we are -- or are not -- getting along in the world. "It" is the article "Connected We Stand," by Philip Slater, in the March-April 2003 issue of the UTNE Reader. Get the full article, online, for a fee. Slater divides the world into two camps -- Connector culture, and Divider culture. "Connector culture is characterized by a preoccupation with linking &emdash; people, concepts, places. It seeks to recognize commonalities and promote democratic decision-making. It emphasizes process over product. The emergence of Connector culture takes such diverse forms as the euro, the ending of apartheid, the blurring of gender roles and the increasing power and influence of women, global communication and the global economy, internationalism in music, cuisines and art, and the retelling of old tales from the viewpoint of the antagonist. Resistance to Connector culture has been most visible in the rise of fundamentalist movements &emdash; Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu -- throughout the world. Paradoxically, it is strongest both in the world's most backward areas and in its centers of great power. Osama bin Laden and the Bush administration both exemplify Divider resistance. Divider culture is marked by a preoccupation with control -- over nature, over other people, over our own bodies and feelings. It's relentlessly dualistic -- splitting all of life into warring opposites. It fosters rankings and hierarchies. It exalts war and competition, and tends to see cooperation as weakness. It seeks a fixed, static world in which good perpetually battles evil. The clash between Dividers and Connectors can be seen in every area of life -- politics, business, science, art, personal relationships, sexuality, relgiion, psychology, medicine." I found particularly instructive the parallels he draws between neocon militarism and environmental extremism. "Though nominally antiwar, the radical left tends to embrace the militaristic values of the right. Environmentalists who try to help corporations move in an ecological direction are stigmatized for fraternizing with the enemy."
• "Downhill Slide," by Hal Clifford, a book-length examination of the evolution of the ski industry, its shifting demographics, and its influence in mountain communities. A compelling case for thoughtful and more moderate approaches to how, what -- and if -- we develop in alpine environments.
• "Cradle to Cradle," by visionary architect William McDonough and equally visionary chemist Michael Braungart. Also just started (detect a theme here? Multiple books at once, always starting and never finishing.)
• "The Backbone of the World," Frank Clifford, a look at the life and times along the continental divide.
• "Breaking Clean," by Judy Blunt, life growing up in hardscrabble circumstances in the wheat country of eastern Montana.
• "Bowling Alone," by Robert Putnam, on how we have come to lose our connections with communities, of interest, geography, lineage.
• The Wall Street Journal, in print, every day. Editorial policies that seem to pay no regard to the marvelous, factual reporting that appears elsewhere in the publication.
• The New York Times online.
• Commondreams.org -- for a distinctly contrarian view of the message, mores and actions driven by our increasingly fascistic government. Am I being inflammatory in my use of the term? You decide.