**This is Big**

Yes, that is about the only way I can describe this trip to Yellowstone. Epic. Big. Life altering. I almost don't know where to begin. Let me begin by explaining why I went. My Yellowstone trip was to reconnect with the longest relationship I have ever had. Longer than my marriage. Even at the lowest point, it was better than my marriage. Together or apart, my feelings for him have not wavered. While together, I enjoyed the happiest times of my life, while apart I was the lonliest. When we focused on the important parts of life, the relationship flourished. When pride, fear of rejection, selfishness got in the way, we drifted apart.

I went to Yellowstone to break the cycle. I went to Yellowstone to do the only thing I thought I could do to hold onto what I think is real and enduring. I went to Yellowstone to... well read on.

I left about 4:30 am on Friday the 1st of July. Still dark, but necessary so that I could be in the park before dark. Because some of you may not realize how beautiful the Pacific Northwest really is, here are some pictures of the Columbia Gorge as the sun was rising.



Eastern Oregon was just as beautiful. I don't know if those not from this area realize how different the terrain is there. The west side of the Cascades are like a rainforest, but the eastern side is framed by beautiful ranching valleys and mountain peaks. This valley is particularly beautiful:



As will become abundantly clear, I spent the 14 hours of my drive feeling pretty nervous. I was definitely putting myself out there. Risky. Vulnerable. But no choice in the matter.

Arriving in Yellowstone I came upon a beautiful double rainbow (yes, I am always looking for signs), the end of which dipped down into the Old Faithful basin - just where I was headed. I globbed onto this bit of symbolism because, of course, I was looking for all the ammunition I could find to be able to say to me... and to A. ... this was meant to be. It was a beautiful sight...




Seeing A. was like seeing my oldest friend. It was like no time had passed and everything was timeless... all at the same moment. More to come....

**Two days and counting**

I will leave for Yellowstone very early Friday morning... probably about 4 am. This park is one of my favorite places in the world. Crowded yes, but I have come to learn the minutiae of this place, come to know the regulars, the geyser gazers that spend their summers wandering from eruption to eruption.

I have enjoyed a meal with the Old Faithful Lodge potter who has spend the last 20 summers at Yellowstone working his craft.

I have watched Castle geyser erupt with a photographer whose book on the history of the park I was browsing only hours before in the bookstore.

I have wandered the turns of Slough Creek watching the trout wander in and out of the shady eddys.

I have stood at the most photographed spot on the Firehold river, fly rod in hand, and experienced the humbling experience of watching the trout wander past my fly and weave in and out of my legs, laughing at me I am sure.

I have walked the trails of the northwest corner of the park with pepper spray in my hand because grizzlies were sighted only hours before.

I have watched over the years, the eruption cycles of the geysers ebb and flow in their time and intensity. I have come to know their personalities and it is like visiting an old friend and discovering how he has changed.

I took a picture of my children in front of a stand of burned trees (from the great fire) and where there was a carpet of little saplings emerging from the forest floor. I have gone back over the years and seen those trees grow, now taller than me.

I have zoomed around Lake Yellowstone in a motorboat with my kids.

Late at night, under a moonless sky I have walked to Morning Glory Pool with trepidation at the thought of buffalo on the path.

I have spent my days listening to A. tell me the stories about the science of the park including the DNA bottleneck discovered in the human race - traced back about 60,000 years - roughly the same time as the last catastrophic explosion of the caldera that makes up much of Yellowstone.

Did I mention that cyclicly we are due for another. The caldera is starting to bulge. Something is due, maybe in the next 10,000 years:)

Yes, Yellowstone is a good place.

**The Supremes call the season with a big hurrah for the ownership society**

I haven't read the decisions themselves, but the Supremes handed down some biggies today:
1) Cable television providers do not have to make available broadbandwidth to competing companies. (Yep, keep chipping away at any notion of access to the wired delivery of brain candy).
2) You can have religious symbols on courthouse property but chat up the historical, import, not its religious significance and the Supremes will look the other way. (Let's just call it a day and burn the constitution. Oh, they will probably outlaw that along with flagburning this year.)
3) Grokster bad, record companies good, musicians fucked (again), i-Tunes the future.

**The scoop**

It was coming for awhile.

I am done with the on line stuff. It was deeply unsatisfying. And to add insult to injury, you can hide your information, but it appears not to be possible to completely delete your information.

That said, I am reinvesting my energy in the longest relationship I ever had. As is the tradition, I am off to Yellowstone on Friday to see what develops. Those of you who know me know the symbolic significance of this piece of technology:) I have been thinking alot about symbolism lately. Might blog on it soon.

**The muddied waters of student journalism**

On June 22, 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit delivered what appears by most accounts to be a significant blow to the college press. In order to understand the significance of this decision it is important to understand that the courts have, in the past, ruled that HIGH SCHOOL newspapers can be censored by school administrators because they are run as part of the curriculum.

Until now, it has been assumed that that college newspapers, even if funded by student fees, operate with far greater freedom and the content cannot be controlled by college administration. Most college newspapers are established separately from any department curriculum, although often professors or directors of student activities might be advisors and students might get course credit for writing for the newspaper.

Hosty v. Carter appears to undermine this otherwise autonomous relationship between a college newspaper and the administration. A dean at Governor's State University censored the newspaper, the Innovator, and the newspaper sued. The newspaper won at the district court level and the university appealed. It didn't go well. Here is the quick summary by Mark Goodman, director of the Student Press Law Center - my favorite .org outside of the ACLU. Those of you following this blog, know about what happened to my son and his job as editor of his high school newspaper and thus understand my love for this organization. If the law school gods smile on me, I will be their legal fellow someday. Mark stated in a recent listserv posting:

First, the court said that that the analysis of the Supreme Court's 1988 Hazelwood decision, which dramatically curtailed high school students free expression rights, was applicable at the college and university level as well. In essence, the court said that under Hazelwood, a court confronted with an act of student newspaper censorship by a public college official must first determine if the publication had been opened up as a "designated public forum" where students have been given the authority to make the content decisions. The majority said that the fact a publication might be extracurricular was not determinative of it's public forum status.
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Second, the court held that even assuming that the Innovator at Governors State University was a public forum, the dean who censored the publication was entitled to qualified immunity because she could not have reasonably known that the limitations of the Hazelwood decision did not apply to college and university student publications.

How I pine for the 60's when the courts focused on expanding First Amendment rights, not consolidating administrative power.

If you want to read the decision click here for the .pdf file to download.

Even those of you not interested in First Amendment issues (as hard as it is for me to believe it is possible:)) this does not bode well for the free flow of information. Sure there is lots of stuff in the student press that can be irritating, unpleasant and poorly executed, but it is an important training ground for learning the ropes - the most important being that people acting in official capacity should not touch content that isn't specfically illegal as defined by state or federal law (e.g. obscene, libelous, etc.)

I, for one, will be working on formally defined our institution's paper as a public forum, which seems to be the one remaining avenue of protection from administrative censorship.