01/31/2026
Been working on a few different things, but overall it’s been a slow January as far as Winding Path is concerned. Most of my energy is focused elsewhere, but I will always be doing something with plants no matter what else is going on. I’m looking forward to seeing some of you at one of the two February events I’ve got scheduled. Take a look at the first comment under each pic for an explanation of what I’m up to.
But I also need to address something else, and to do that I have to tell you more about who I am outside of just the plants. I am fundamentally a quiet person. I deeply dislike social media, as you can tell by taking a look through my sparsely populated business page. I often choose not to talk, not to display my thoughts and feelings on most things; I prefer to act quietly rather than publicly, and I am never going to be a social butterfly or a content creator. I’d rather talk about plants on this page than anything else and I don’t plan to keep talking about other stuff ad infinitum. But given where we are as a collective right now, it appears to be necessary to say this next bit out loud. Fair warning – once I get started on something like this I get pretty wordy. Please don’t continue reading from this point on unless you are willing to read until the end.
I believe in the ideals that supported the formation of our nation; that all persons are equal to one another, have rights, and deserve to be treated equally under the law. I believe in the importance of following our constitution and laws. I recognize that our nation has not successfully implemented our own ideals, not even from the beginning, but I still believe in them. Holding ourselves accountable to ideals is important because it makes us all better. What’s happening in our nation now doesn’t even come close to honoring those important ideals and we urgently need to fix that.
I believe in the power of talking to each other about unacceptable things (yes, even as a fundamentally quiet-natured person I believe in the power of conversation). People in general, we aren’t often going to make sense from a strictly logical perspective. We think with our feelings too much for that and we carry too many contradictions. Which means a little bit of compassion goes a very long way, and we need to offer that compassion to those who are persecuted. Compassion and accountability are two separate things, and you can have both at the same time. Having compassion is not the same thing as giving permission.
Law enforcement needs to be accountable to the people, and to have the best interest of all the people as their driving heart of mission. They deserve a certain amount of leeway and flexibility to do their jobs, which are poorly understood, necessary, and often vilified without consideration for the complex nature of truth. And they need to be accountable. Any other goal is not acceptable, and human lives are not optional. No matter what color or shape they come in. I shouldn’t have to say that for it to be known, but you know what they say about shoulds. People might do illegal things, and have to face the appropriate consequences for that, but no person is illegal by reason of existence.
I believe that no matter what labels we use to describe ourselves, most people want the same kinds of things: peace, prosperity, safety, health. I believe it’s possible for a society to create circumstances which foster those outcomes, that we are failing terribly at that right now for most of us, and that we all have a responsibility to act in order to achieve change. I believe in lawful solutions to our problems and also that we are long past the points of complacency, pleading ignorance, blind following, or empty acceptance. I’m not going to advertise my actions in support of change here on social media because that feels empty and performative to me in this context; if you want to know, catch me in person and I’ll happily have that conversation.
Thanks for listening.
