Marti's Universe

*Episode 001

fIntroduction

This is Marti’s Universe. We all have our own and this is mine. I am not going to pretend to be any sort of writer or scientist, or particularly educated in any subject in the usual meaning of the word ‘educated’. I am a life-long learner and finally, at the age of 85, have decided to share my observations with whomever might find them interesting.

Any given post may be a rant, or about something I am interested in learning, a hypothesis I have conjured up, or a note about the books I am reading now, most of which are science for the layman (current favorite is An Immense World by Ed Yong, followed closely by Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake, followed by Sean Carroll’s Mindscape podcast, followed by … ). It my be a personal anecdote, a story I want to tell which may be imbedded in a related post. 

Fiction no longer appeals to me as I have seen too much already. I have experienced little personal trauma, but have witnessed vicariously way too much of man’s inhumanity to man to want to read about characters who take their trauma out on other people, whether it is just words or any of the myriad ways to inflict violence on another living thing. If I want to hear that kind of human interaction, the NYT headlines are enough and I do read them just to stay in touch with the ‘real’ world.

This is where I need to state that I consider myself as neither a liberal or conservative, neither far left nor far right, neither religious nor anti-religious, neither pro- nor anti-feminist. I am a humanist. I will explore whatever aspect of being human and delve into what we have accomplished in the time of our existence on planet Earth, the latter being only one of many subjects and themes to be explored as a layman.

Reading all sorts of books, listening to podcasts and other media intended for the layman has added much to my generalist nature. I love to learn about genetics — especially the relatively new field of genomics which, along with linguistics and new archaeological and anthropological tools and techniques are greatly expanding the knowledge of prehistory and ancient history. I try my best to understand the quantum universe and what the different theories predict. And more, if you choose to follow me on Substack.

I write both formally and breezily, sometimes in the same sentence.

I am a yarn enthusiast — I used to knit before my fine eyesight went south (due to retina damage from a fungus) and am grateful that I can still crochet, which I used to look down my nose at as a lesser craft. I still insist on trying to learn to weave, mostly tapestry thanks to Rebecca Mezoff. I taught myself to spin fiber into yarn thanks to the Covid quarantine and make my own, very simple drop spindles. Recently I was given a peg loom and have had a blast learning to weave on it (but I still love tapestry weaving the best).

A bit of background… I grew up in Missouri — way back when it was something not to deny; after all, Harry Truman was from there. You might notice by the wording of the previous sentence that I don’t live there now. At the age of 39 I left Missouri, due to a divorce I did not want, on my motorcycle while on a six-month sabbatical from my job as programmer/systems analyst at the University of Missouri* Medical Center. I planned to return, but found other places too inviting — namely a small mountain town in Colorado, although it called itself the City of Ouray, altitude c. 8,000 ft. 

I met my late, and last, husband, Pat, there 25 years ago more than 30 years after I had decided to stay in Ouray and nearby environs. (I seemed to have moved a lot, not only in Colorado, but as a child and adult in Missouri.) Pat and I became snowbirds after my worsening eyesight prevented me from doing my job at the local weekly newspaper. He was driving Jeep tours into the surrounding San Juan mountain range of the Rocky Mountains, but of course only in the summer so living in Arizona in the winter seemed attractive to both of us.  We were ‘seniors’ after all… The point of this being that after he became unable to drive tours, we ended up becoming stuck in the greater Phoenix area, mainly due to medical insurance.

All of the above leads to the fact that I am now living alone in a small apartment on Pat’s Social Security, in Maricopa County between Mesa and Apache Junction. Although some regrets, I am a happy person, somewhat of a smart ass, and doing what I want within the extant limitations. Most of my outside activities are with the Humanist Society of Greater Phoenix, either in person or on Zoom. 

I LOVE Zoom. 

I also teach beginning Spanish through Zoom. I have been teaching myself Spanish through various media since my first years in Ouray working as a waitress, in a popular restaurant peopled by locals and summer tourists, where the dishwasher was from Mexico. My first Spanish word, other than items on a typical Mexican restaurant menu, was tenedor. All in all the years in Colorado were… I started to say they were the best of my life, but that is not really true. I have lived an enjoyable life from the beginning.

If you have read this far you may enjoy the parts of my universe that I chose to share.

Corrections of sorts — I do vote Democratic as I believe these candidates usually show the most humanity.

*The abbreviation of the university at that time was MU, but as it grew is became U of M Columbia or wherever a particular campus was located.  When I saw Jane Smiley’s book Moo  some years ago and found the setting to be the Department of Agriculture  of MU in Columbia I had a good laugh as my current initials were/are MOO.  Then quickly adopted the Greek letter µ as a sort of signature, stealing it from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  Then my initial could be MOO if I chose to use my previous married name as well as my current one, O’Donnell, taking it a triple, if not quadruple, pun of sorts.

…µ moo