The Imaginarian

In the mind
of the imaginarian
there are bubbles
that become
urgent as molasses,
the placid movement
of time a drudgery.

But then wings
of angelic forms come to light
and a vast horizon of being
stretches outward
to new adventures.

Go for those adventures,
o wingéd Pegasus,
and with equine strength
weigh improbably upward
like a vast eagle.

Not So Simple

Here are some topics we discuss as examples of science and technology reporting in my classes, bringing home the point that oversimplification of information often leads to lack of clarity.

Graphene

This 2013 article was posted to reddit about two weeks ago and got plenty of upvotes as if it were a new and easy magical thing -

http://gizmodo.com/5990876/lockheeds-new-carbon-filter-takes-all-the-effort-out-of-desalinization

Graphene has awesome potential as both an electrical conductor and a molecular sieve, but there is more work to be done to make its use practical on a larger scale. This MIT article from last year looks like a more reasonable update on graphene’s use as a filter - 

http://news.mit.edu/2015/repair-graphene-leaks-0508

Wolves

Check out the different focal points of this video and article, both from 2014 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa5OBhXz-Q

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/opinion/is-the-wolf-a-real-american-hero.html

The feel-good style of the video has touched far more hearts than Arthur Middleton’s more balanced analysis published a month afterward, but the question is do we want to dig deeper? 

Fiber

This article focuses on meat and cheese -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3534246/Western-diets-high-meat-dairy-salt-eroding-gut-bacteria-scientists-say.html

This article focuses on fiber -

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/cp-cmf040516.php

Which of the two gives a more accurate depiction of the research?

Rocket Science

Finally, consider this op-ed from last year, which encourages us to
understand discovery as hard effort rather than a moment of epiphany -

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/opinion/it-is-in-fact-rocket-science.html

These kinds of distinctions are important when evaluating information.

Bread Keeper

at the nexus
of lord and loaf
the grain supply
the holders of plenty
and the bread beggars

the shepherd of sums
exacts his due
from the low places
he himself
bathed in the glass light
of heaven

father, son, ghost
the one law
of plentitude
in communion

blessed the high walls
of providence
sun, soil, and rain
on the fields of eternity

blessed the plow and yoke
the share exacted
the protection given

blessed the poor
the compliant
the copper-filled pockets
of towns become
cities, states, nations at war