The Real Mask Issue

By Bill Chisholm I’m not a dualist in my thinking. I am a tri-spherical thinker, meaning I believe there are not just two sides to every story, every issue, but many different and many valid perspectives. I also tend to not follow the crowd. In fact I have an innate sense to run in the…

The Importance of a Solid Footing – Understanding What is Cause and What is Effect

By Bill Chisholm During my seventeen years doing disaster damage assessment for FEMA, I didn’t just look for the effect, the damage, but the cause of the problem. It often came down to a matter of footing or foundation. If it was a flood, it was often a watershed issue. In many cases in earthquakes…

Changes in Climates

By Bill Chisholm Climate is defined in The Oxford College Dictionary as: “the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period of time—- a region with particular prevailing weather conditions— the prevailing trend of public opinion or of another aspect of public life”.  Both weather and public opinion impact the…

A Different Yardstick – A More Earthy Measure of Success

by Bill Chisholm For the past twenty-five (plus) years I’ve in part measured my success in the fall with the planting of my garlic.  The challenges in getting the garlic in the ground before the cold of late fall have been many and varied, including time away working disasters, political campaigns, caring for loved ones,…

It is not About Chosen, It is About Choosing

by Bill Chisholm There is much conflict in the world stemming from religious, ethnic, class, national, political, and familial distinctions based on some perception of being “chosen”, being above, being better than one’s neighbors.  There are sub-divisions within these groupings which make the whole concept even more absurd.  The latter seems to stem from the…

Entrainment or a Train Wreck – The Choice is Ours

by Bill Chisholm I was playing a little improv percussion music the other night with some friends.  We had drums, rattles, a tambourine, and a bell along with a flute and my 3 string guitar.  We got in the groove several times.  At the end of one song, one of the players spoke about what…

Minimizing the Rattle Factor – Turning Problems Into Solutions

by Bill Chisholm I don’t bill myself as a survival expert, only a person who has been gifted with a good deal of training and experience in testing my metal and mental capacity to solve problems in challenging situations.  My training and experience covers a broad sweep from wildlands fire fighter, disaster manager, wilderness survival…

The Gift of Question and The Eyes of Awe

by Bill Chisholm              As part of my daily sadhana, I include a prayer for clarity of vision.  This New Year’s Day morning after saying that and doing some tub yoga, I was thinking what I might wish for the people of the world.  A hawk suddenly came out of nowhere and landed not six…

What Does it Take to Be a GREAT Nation?

by Bill Chisholm In the 2016 race to be President of the United States of America, both the Democrat candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Republican candidate (The) Donald Trump campaigned on the notion of American greatness.  Hillary said America was already great and The Donald said he was going to make America great again.…

Leadership, Political Power and the People – An Activist’s Perspective

by Bill Chisholm “Follow the leader.” was one of our childhood games.  We took turns and did whatever the leader did.  There was never any question about where the leader came from or if they could be trusted.  Everyone got a turn at being leader.  It is amazing that given the impact a so-called “leader”…