BRINGING EDUCATION TO ITS KNEES

To those who were blessed to receive an education that included basic reading, writing, mathematics, history and at least a smattering of the arts, it might seem like a shock to learn that this summer Governor Kate Brown of Oregon signed Oregon Senate Bill 744, which abolishes competency in core subjects as a requirement for graduation from public high schools in Oregon.  Proponents of the bill lobbied for it in the name of "equity" for minority students, but it is difficult to understand how such a bill will would help any student of any background.  Some even view this law as a direct assault against minorities, whose innate abilities might now be dismissed as a result of a largely Caucasian legislative body's attempts to downgrade education and academic accomplishment.

To be fair, the law holds place for the next five years and then will be subject to review, but the harm that it could potentially generate could last much longer.  Tragic that the very institutions that were granted the sacred task of imparting knowledge are now working against it.

It is imperative that we ALL learn as much as we can about our schools, even those who have no children, because their lives will be impacted as surely as children's lives.  We should all study the funding, the curriculum, the training of teachers, the philosophy in place, the percentage of funds spent on administration and non-essential expenditures.  It is our right and our duty.

MARINO GARDENING:  A NEW APPROACH TO OLD WAYS

Imagine a small plot of land, maybe a suburban front yard or back yard, or maybe even just a few square feet, filled with a rich variety of plants, selected perhaps only by their immediate appeal to the gardener.  The planting space is crowded and perhaps not well-planned, but it provides a feast to the eyes and the nose, and energizes the surrounding area with an infusion of oxygen and nourishment for wildlife and humans.  This new (or old?) approach to gardening is being popularized by John Marino of St. Louis, Missouri, and is little by little capturing the attention of gardeners both in the Midwest and elsewhere.

When John acquired the suburban house left to him by his parents, he began to sample the joys of gardening more intensively than ever before.  He planted evergreen bushes, roses, flowering trees, hydrangeas and a host of other species.  Although his property was spacious enough for a suburban location, his appetite for new varieties of plants quickly began to soak up the available space, and perhaps the spacing may not have been ideal to an experienced landscaper.  However, the myriad assortment did provide privacy, cleaner air, little spots to lose yourself as you wandered through the front and back yards, and perhaps an air of mystery, somewhat like a small enchanted forest.

In time, a professional landscaper up the street from John's home became inspired and began to apply John's notions to his own property and to adventurous clients who wanted to make the most of their own properties.  Eventually some of John's friends and associates also decided to become more experimental in their own garden design and implementation.  A local psychic even commended John for fostering an "energy vortex" through the pairing of majestic trees of various species side by side.  If you think about it, Mother Nature herself adopts a very pragmatic--and oftentimes crowded--approach to filling spaces on our planet with as much vegetation as possible, paying no heed to any sort of principles of garden design.  Now we are beginning to see "Marino gardens" pop up here and there in all sorts of places.

Basically, Marino gardening boils down to a "do your own thing approach" to garden design and layout.  The only constraints are that you need to make sure each plant has sufficient light, soil and space to grow and prosper on its own.  The possibilities are endless, and the only boundaries are Nature itself and our own creativity.